tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-112199952024-03-13T03:05:22.374-05:00Welcome to Ghetto UprisingI put no stock in religion. By the word religion I have seen the lunacy of fanatics of every denomination be called the will of god. I have seen too much religion in the eyes of too many murderers. Holiness is in right action, and courage on behalf of those who cannot defend themselves, and goodness. What the Creator desires is here.Sawaad Amen Rahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16088798910340182517noreply@blogger.comBlogger146125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11219995.post-2291867417563037332010-11-14T20:30:00.001-06:002011-01-05T20:33:12.201-06:00Distressed By Stress?<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view&current=zuluqueen21.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/zuluqueen21.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/?action=view¤t=31818_1256219376012_1545444231_3051.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/31818_1256219376012_1545444231_3051.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view¤t=unia2.gif" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/unia2.gif" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
Shem Hotep ("I go in peace").<br />
<br />
Distressed By Stress? <br />
How to turn off your body's automatic tension switch<br />
and keep strain within manageable levels <br />
<br />
It looks like an epidemic. It is everywhere. And it seems as if everyone has been afflicted by it — mothers, fathers, lawyers, doctors, nurses, preachers, teachers — no profession or individual has been left unscathed. <br />
<br />
I call it Public Enemy No. 1. You may just call it stress. <br />
<br />
You experience stress from four basic sources: <br />
<br />
1. Environment. The sun, rain, pollution, noise and more can affect your mood. <br />
<br />
2. Social stressors. Outside forces such as deadlines, financial problems, your work environment, long hours on the job and staff shortages can increase your stress level. Personal changes like the loss of a loved one or constant demands on your time from family and friends can also be a factor. <br />
<br />
3. Physiological stress. Biological changes like menopause in women, illness, aging, lack of exercise and weight gain can increase your overall stress level. <br />
<br />
4. Your thoughts. Your brain is like a giant computer that interprets changes in the environment and decides when to turn on your body's emergency response. How you interpret and label your present experience and what you predict for the future can serve to either relax or stress you. <br />
<br />
Stress really begins with your appraisal of a situation. <br />
<br />
The Stress On/Off Switch <br />
<br />
Hans Selye, the first major researcher on stress, found that any problem — real or imagined — can cause a biological response. When a potential stressor is identified by your brain, the cerebral cortex sends an alarm to the hypothalamus. That, in turn, stimulates the sympathetic nervous system to make a series of changes in your body. Your heart may race. You may start breathing faster. Your hands and feet may get cold as blood is directed away from your extremities and digestive system and into the larger muscles that can help you fight or flee. <br />
<br />
Unfortunately, problems arise when the fight and flight response continues unchecked as it does during times of chronic stress. Your adrenal glands start to secrete corticoids (adrenaline or epinephrine and norephidrine), which inhibit digestion, reproduction, growth, tissue repair and the response of your immune and inflammatory systems. <br />
<br />
Fortunately for us, the same mechanism that turns on the stress response can also turn it off. This is called the relaxation response. As soon as you decide a situation is no longer dangerous, your brain stops sending messages to your nervous system. Three minutes after you shut off the threat, your brain stops sending messages to your nervous system and the fight or flight response burns off. <br />
<br />
It is interesting to note that approximately 3 minutes after the fight and flight response is extinguished, your metabolism, heart and breathing rate, muscle tension and blood pressure all return to normal. <br />
<br />
Coping With Stress <br />
<br />
We must be very concerned about continuous stress. Stress can be cumulative if the stress receptors are constantly turned on. For example, stress from 2 years ago could still be affecting you now. It becomes important to know ourselves and our ability to cope with stress well enough to know when we need to ask for help. We need to cope with stress, not bottle it up. <br />
<br />
There are some simple things we can do to reduce our stress level. <br />
<br />
Body Scanning <br />
<br />
Body scanning involves taking a mental inventory of areas of tension in our body and mentally releasing this tension. <br />
<br />
Want to try it? Close your eyes and ask yourself "Where am I tense?" Start with your toes and mentally move up your body. When you find a tension area, e.g., your neck, tell yourself that neck tension creates tension in your shoulders, your jaw, your entire body. You are hurting yourself. Tell yourself to let go of the tension. Then do it. <br />
<br />
Stress Journal <br />
<br />
Keep a stress awareness journal for 2 weeks. Make a note of the times of day that are most stressful to you and what activity or activities you are involved in. <br />
<br />
Be very specific in your journal. For example: 7 a.m. — Arrived at work. The night nurses had emergencies all night, the unit feels like a mad house. I've been here 3 minutes and already I'm tense. <br />
<br />
By keeping a stress awareness journal, you will be able to see your own stress patterns. You'll be able to plan your day better, thereby avoiding as much stress as possible. <br />
<br />
Next develop a plan of action to deal with everyday stress. <br />
<br />
Meditation <br />
<br />
Meditation is the practice of uncritically attempting to focus your attention on one thing at a time. It is relatively unimportant exactly what that thing is and varies with one tradition to the next. <br />
<br />
For example, you could use the cardiac monitor, IV pole, the tip of your nose, even your mother's maiden name as a focus point. The heart of meditation lies not simply in focusing on one object to the exclusion of all other thoughts, but rather in the attempt to achieve this type of focus. <br />
<br />
The nature of the human mind is such that it does not want to stay focused. It may take some time for you to achieve a meditative state. You don't have to feel like you're relaxing in order to actually become relaxed while meditating. However, when you open your eyes at the end of your meditation you should feel much more relaxed than you did before meditating. <br />
<br />
Harness Your Imagination <br />
<br />
You can significantly reduce your stress with something enormously powerful — your imagination. While it's hard to will yourself into a relaxed state, you can imagine relaxation spreading through your body and can visualize yourself in a safe, beautiful space. <br />
<br />
Emile Coue, a French pharmacist, believed the power of imagination far exceeded that of the will. Coue asserted that all of our thoughts can become reality. <br />
<br />
How many times have you heard: You become what you think? If you think sad thoughts, you become sad. Therefore, if you think happy thoughts, soon you'll be happy. <br />
<br />
Effective Visualization <br />
<br />
There are some ways to make your visualization more effective. First, find a quiet place where you can be by yourself. Loosen your clothing, lie down and close your eyes. Mentally scan your body to see if there is tension in any specific muscle. If you find tension, relax that muscle. Use an affirmation. Repeat short positive statements that affirm your ability to relax now in this moment. Use present tense and avoid negatives. Don't tell yourself "I am not tense," rather, say "I am relaxing. I am relaxed." <br />
<br />
Visualization practice is easiest in the morning and at nighttime while you are lying in bed. <br />
<br />
Scent and Music Therapy <br />
<br />
I have found that using all kinds of aromatic scents — such as essential oils or incense — helps me relax. I often combine this with a music CD designed to help produce alpha waves. Alpha waves are the rhythm the brain produces when you are in a relaxed state. I combine the two into what I call scent and sound therapy. <br />
<br />
Nourishing Your Spirit <br />
<br />
The best advice I will give you is to develop a passion for life. Nourish your spirit. <br />
<br />
When I say spirit, I do not mean spirituality as organized religion. In German there are two words to represent the different kinds of spirituality. "Geistlich" means spiritual matters reflecting a religious orientation and "Geistig" refers to spiritual matters without ties to a specific religion. It is "Geistig" that I write about. <br />
<br />
Nourish your spirit by doing things that have personal meaning to you and enhance your life. Take time to hear the squawking of birds; recognize the thoughtfulness of colleaguesSawaad Amen Rahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16088798910340182517noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11219995.post-18983372018046243252010-11-07T20:47:00.002-06:002011-01-04T21:39:37.302-06:00The Great Slavery Debate<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view&current=westwoman11.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/westwoman11.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/?action=view¤t=31818_1256219376012_1545444231_3051.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/31818_1256219376012_1545444231_3051.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view¤t=unia2.gif" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/unia2.gif" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
Shem Hotep ("I go in peace").<br />
<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view&current=AntiSalveryMedal1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/AntiSalveryMedal1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
The Great Slavery Debate: Reparations Twist<br />
<br />
When witnessing a debate on reparations, I often feel like I’m listening to people speaking completely different languages. Consider that when unarmed Black Oakland BART rider Oscar Grant was killed by a White police officer on a train platform, Blacks demanded a first-degree murder charge, although it had little chance of being sustained (no malice aforethought). While the accusation made Blacks feel good for a minute, the illusion of fair play departed when the jury opted for a more accurate charge.<br />
<br />
When Blacks argue for reparations, it does not mean that they know or care anything about an accurate application. What they care about is a means to take revenge, while getting compensated for the suffering of their relatives (the end). Of course, Whites (and some Blacks) try to explain that reparations do not apply, to a chorus of ‘I-don’t-give-a-bleep what a White man or Uncle Tom thinks’. It’s not about laws or evolving moral codes of the day – it’s about emotion and payback. We need to call it what it is.<br />
<br />
Reparations debates will never be resolved until Blacks can inject some objectivity where only emotions currently exist. For their part, Whites will never be a part of the resolution until they can cop to how reasonable it is for Blacks to blame slavery, as the catch basin, for the litany of misdeeds that continued after slavery ended.<br />
<br />
Hopefully the day will come when Blacks stop soliciting unfulfilling indulgences from Whites, when what they really want is for Whites to admit that their ancestors outsmarted themselves, not only by kidnapping Africans, but more so by not making Blacks equal opportunity citizens after the emancipation. Both Blacks and Whites need to work (together), minus race cards, at understanding how pretend equality (of opportunity), the sustained post-slavery sin, got us to the dysfunctional mess we find ourselves today. Only then can we start making decisions and taking action to reverse the damage.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view&current=AntiSalveryMedal1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/AntiSalveryMedal1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
The Great Slavery Debate: Ungrateful Negroes<br />
<br />
When it comes to discussing, or even thinking about, slavery, the great taboo of White folks is embodied in the question forever on their minds and almost never on their tongues, “Why are Blacks so ungrateful to be in America, when Africa is the worst place on the globe in terms of health, jobs, government, education, crime, climate, resources, blah, blah, blah?”<br />
<br />
They will go on to say, “sure, slavery was bad for your ancestors, but it ended a long time ago”. They will also say that racism may exist, “but it exist in Africa too, and much worse, with one tribe committing genocide on another”. In the days before political correctness, Whites were fond of telling Blacks that they should go back to Africa, if they don’t like it here. The implication was always that however bad Blacks think America is, it is worse in Africa.<br />
<br />
Where White people got off track is in thinking and acting like Blacks are immigrants. “Go home”, has always been the retort for the disgruntled immigrant, and some even made the return trip. But the African ancestry that was forced here is mostly like those people who stayed behind in Europe, China, India, etc. – meaning they are not immigrant-minded. So why did Black people stay here? Out of those that could have returned, they stayed mostly out of spite, and certainly not because anyone offered them a shot at the American Dream. This was the grand screw-up of US leadership before, during, and after the Civil War.<br />
<br />
Fast-forward - if Black people could ever find a reason to want to be here, because of the relative opportunity, instead of being here to simply piss-off White people, a lot of the problems of the day would disappear. And ditto, if White people could ever accept responsibility for post-slavery abuse, without pretending to handover the keys to the kingdom, or other counter-productive acts of contrition. <br />
<br />
The paradox is that Blacks cannot make Whites miserable about the past and what followed, without assuring their own adjacent misery, and Whites cannot make amends by only pretending to consider Blacks capable and <br />
deserving of a fair shot. So we are all miserable together down the crapper<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view&current=AntiSalveryMedal1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/AntiSalveryMedal1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
The Great Slavery Debate: Was Slavery Profitable?<br />
<br />
Note: There are many who say that the economics of slavery were not very profitable, Thomas Sowell notably, and I would say they are wrong. However, it is important to distinguish (as I will attempt) between plantation slavery economics and the greater commerce value/impact of the triangular trade.<br />
<br />
There are two high schools (Part 1 today), and one graduate school (Part 2 coming), of thought on the degree to which this country owes its fortunes to slavery, and by inference to Black ancestry. It is this notion of who benefited and who is owed, intertwined with current dysfunction, which sits as a big bugaboo to progress.<br />
<br />
The Atlantic Slave Trade was a profitable component of triangular commerce of that day, but by itself not world changing. In fact, slavery has often been the spoil of a society that was good at something else, mainly war. Having other people to do your loathsome work has been a luxury for the already rich. The Atlantic Slave Trade was a final burst where pure labor was of pivotal importance to a more sophisticated system of commerce, mostly involving sugar and Europe’s sweet tooth for its by-products.<br />
<br />
In the labor-starved Americas, slavery is what made the triangular system happen, on the front end. Thereby, it deserves a disproportion of the credit for the very profitable distilled-spirits and textiles on the back end. On the other hand, while plantation slavery made those owners rich, those same owners were not directly responsible for this country’s economic fortune. The overhead required to administer slaves within a system of zero incentive, was high. As a sidebar, had slaves been able to work in parallel to purchase their freedom, the US might have avoided a devastating war with itself.<br />
<br />
The Wall Street banks and insurance companies in the north were a different story than the plantations. The slave trade business gave this country a critical foundation in establishing the commerce and banking infrastructure that world leadership would require. The names of those companies and their impact are undeniable – JP Morgan, Chase, Lehman Bros., Aetna, New York Life, to name a few.<br />
<br />
So, in answer to whether slavery was profitable, the answer is both no and yes, but much more yes – as it was the lubricant for the most profitable European commerce transactions of the day. This is true even though American plantations were inefficient in their brutal waste and high overhead cost.<br />
<br />
Up Next: Part 2 (Graduate School). Just because slavery was profitable does not mean that slaves, or their ancestors, have a rightful claim. The details and context of the day, both legal and ethical, must be applied.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view&current=0514092028.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/0514092028.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
Robyn I love you.<br />
<br />
Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down. Love puts the fun in together, the sad in apart, and the joy in a heart. <br />
Soul-mates are people who bring out the best in you. They are not perfect but are always perfect for you. Trip over love, you can get up. Fall in love and you fall forever. Love one another and you will be happy. It's as simple and as difficult as that. Are we not like two volumes of one book? Without love, what are we worth? Eighty-nine cents! Eighty-nine cents worth of chemicals walking around lonely.The hours I spend with you I look upon as sort of a perfumed garden, a dim twilight, and a fountain singing to it. You and you alone make me feel that I am alive. Other men it is said have seen angels, but I have seen thee and thou art enough. <br />
I've fallen in love many times... always with you.<br />
<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view&current=dim1-2.gif" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/dim1-2.gif" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>Sawaad Amen Rahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16088798910340182517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11219995.post-41057045197100326062010-10-28T21:29:00.001-05:002011-01-03T21:34:20.388-06:00Blacks Buy Blue Eye Surgery<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view&current=SuperStock_1907-12991.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/SuperStock_1907-12991.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/?action=view¤t=31818_1256219376012_1545444231_3051.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/31818_1256219376012_1545444231_3051.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view¤t=unia2.gif" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/unia2.gif" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
Shem Hotep ("I go in peace").<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view&current=FakeBlueEyedBlack1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/FakeBlueEyedBlack1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
Blacks Buy Blue Eye Surgery<br />
<br />
Continuing my pandering to Blue-eyed madness, I am compelled to write about idiots/people who pay big money to have blue implants surgically inserted into their eyes. Yep, you heard me, inserted as in carved! I first thought that this could not be true, but after various aging relatives had lenses implanted to remedy cataracts, I thought I better do some homework.<br />
<br />
The procedure for quasi-permanently changing the color of one’s eyes involves implanting a colored, optic-neutral, lens behind the cornea and in front of the iris. Knowing a bit about how the eye works (don’t ask how), the first thing I wondered was how this implanted lens would not irritate either the cornea or iris while being held in place to give the owner those factory-fresh baby-blues? It is this potential to obstruct these two parts of the eye that would contribute to damage and the body’s immune response, all resulting in complications of a blinding nature.<br />
<br />
The implants, commercially labeled NewColorIris™, are available from a Panamanian eye surgeon, Delray Alberto Khan. It is critical to note that the Khan (ironically pronounced “Con”) cosmetic procedure is not approved anywhere outside of the third-world (where it seems authorities do not care if doctors butcher patients). It also seems that Khan’s patients/victims are fond of having those damn things removed pronto, in an attempt to save their sight. I found one patient who seemed to be happy, for now (here).<br />
<br />
Interestingly enough, there is an eye surgeon in Beverly Hills, Kerry K. Assil, who repairs and replaces damaged or congenitally missing (here) irises, presented as medical conditions. Assil’s implants, while potentially changing eye color, also reveal themselves, by not obscuring the entire original iris. However, Dr. Assil’s location in Beverly Hills, is suspicious, as 90210 is also the mecca of the cosmetic surgery industry. It would not surprise me if Assil was padding his account by making blue eyes bluer, on the QT, but this is only conjecture right now.<br />
<br />
Caveat Emptor. Let the buyer beware.<br />
<br />
Note: A Blue-eyed fellow like the one in the picture had his NewColorIris(tm) implants removed due to complications, and removal only cost him $16,000.<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view&current=AntiSalveryMedal1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/AntiSalveryMedal1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
The Great Slavery Debate – An Introduction<br />
<br />
Perhaps the most recurring historical truism of America is the need for Americans to move past slavery. Mind you, move past does not mean ‘get over it’, in the snide way some people admonish. At the front of the line of the many who need to move on are Black people. In therapeutic lingo, this means squarely facing the past then letting it go, so as not to impede the future.<br />
<br />
This weekend I had a spirited debate with some family members, including my 19 year old daughter and her boyfriend. The young Black man, from Atlanta, was the most adamant contender that ‘our slavery’ was worst than previous instances, although he offered no specific difference, other than the distance that slaves were transported.<br />
<br />
Others in the debate gave examples of the brutality of slavery in the South, from beatings, murders, assaults, to the wrenching apart of loved ones. My offering, that these treatments were within the range of treatments of slaves throughout human history, fell on deaf ears. Nope, the contention remained that ‘ours was worst and this is why Black people are so messed up today’.<br />
<br />
Over the coming weeks/months, I will take a look at some questions about North American slavery, against the context of today. Why did it happen? Who benefited the most/least? Why did the founders adopt it, and then fight about it. Who was Jim Crow? What is the social and economic legacy? How has slavery history affected modern-day immigration? What lessons were learned/not learned?<br />
<br />
If this weekend was any indicator, it might be kind of interesting.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view&current=AntiSalveryMedal1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/AntiSalveryMedal1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
The Great Slavery Debate: The Footing<br />
<br />
The second most challenging aspect of a slavery discussion is not getting blasted out of the saddle, with your point-of-view still in the holster. Unless your words are something like, ‘slavery in America was the pinnacle of man’s inhumanity to man’, you barely stand a chance. This is because today’s discussion is most often against today’s morality, rather than the progress of that time. Of course, to say that America’s slavery was not the worst is nothing close to saying that it was anything less than bad. All slavery was/is bad for the enslaved, as well as the society.<br />
<br />
The only relative comparison I will make is that the Atlantic slave trade objectively delivered more slaves from Africa to South America (over 5,000,000) than to the North (500,000), and by all accounts, those delivered to the south suffered a much higher mortality. Their life spans were short, only one to five years, due to the grueling work, mistreatment, and harsh conditions on plantations, in mines, and elsewhere. South American slave owners expected to get no more than a few years of hard labor from a slave, and they went about fulfilling this prophecy. The work was 7 days/week, 18 hours/day, no women, no children, bad food, no care, and no mercy.<br />
<br />
The most challenging aspect of a slavery discussion is the notion that current Black plight, with respect to crime, unwed parenting, drug abuse et al, is somehow a function of the ‘slavery-at-it’s-worst’ label attached to the American colonies (British and French). I have yet to find a description of slavery, anywhere, or at anytime, that tracks to the dysfunction within today’s Black community. So, I think it must derive from another source. FYI, my authority on slavery is a book entitled, Slavery: A World History, by Milton Meltzer.<br />
<br />
My objective, in this series, is not to deny or discount the negative impacts of slavery, then or now, nor is it to absolve its practitioners or their beneficiaries. I will discuss this later. Rather for now, I will say that dispassionate research indicates that current Black plight is not located at the intersection of the two, nor are any solutions. In its proper proportion, slavery informs us in critical ways. When taken out of proportion, it mostly blocks our view and advancement.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view&current=AntiSalveryMedal1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/AntiSalveryMedal1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
The Great Slavery Debate: Origins<br />
<br />
Considering that most Americans cannot name all fifty states, or find S. Dakota on a map, it would not surprise me at all that those same folks think that slavery was invented, or re-invented, in the colonies now making up these United States. Unfortunately, what most Americans know of slavery was passed down from people who saw Alex Hailey’s fictionalized Roots mini-series. There is much more to slavery than this, as it has been going on for thousands of years.<br />
<br />
Slavery began when hunter-gathering ended, some say about 11,000 years ago. Once agriculture advances produced more food than people in certain areas could eat, people began enslaving others, as they could afford to keep their captives fed. Before that, they simply killed their enemies without a blink. To help our perspective, during the 1,000 or so years of the Roman Empire, 100 million people in an around the Mediterranean area were enslaved.<br />
<br />
The lives of slaves have rarely been ‘good’, as some would describe. Throughout time, slaves have been property not people. Their treatment, and very existence, has always been at the whim of their owners. This means they could be killed, assaulted, neglected, or simply worked to death, without repercussions. In most cases slave women bore offspring into slavery, both replenishing and growing the ranks.<br />
<br />
Slavery has always been profitable and the foundation of commerce for all societies. Slavery commerce was often the aim/outcome of going to war, where entire societies were enslaved and sold as spoils. It is estimated that 25 to 50% of the world’s population has been enslaved at some time in history. So, the millions of slaves captured and delivered during the Atlantic Slave Trade hold no distinction other than the distance they were transported, and timing with the moral question of acceptability.<br />
<br />
The taboo nature of slavery history has fostered a level of ignorance, all the way around, that hinders placing it in proper perspective.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view&current=0430091807.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/0430091807.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
Robyn I love you.<br />
<br />
Love is a symbol of eternity. It wipes out all sense of time, destroying all memory of a beginning and all fear of an end. Love - a wildly misunderstood although highly desirable malfunction of the heart which weakens the brain, causes eyes to sparkle, cheeks to glow, blood pressure to rise and the lips to pucker. You learn to like someone when you find out what makes them laugh, but you can never truly love someone until you find out what makes them cry. Sometimes we make love with our eyes. Sometimes we make love with our hands. Sometimes we make love with our bodies. Always we make love with our hearts.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view&current=dim1-1.gif" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/dim1-1.gif" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>Sawaad Amen Rahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16088798910340182517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11219995.post-30745612276600129972010-10-21T20:59:00.001-05:002011-01-03T20:59:54.105-06:00Black Boy’s Blue Eyes Show Lesion<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view&current=Z2_15951.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/Z2_15951.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/?action=view¤t=31818_1256219376012_1545444231_3051.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/31818_1256219376012_1545444231_3051.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view¤t=unia2.gif" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/unia2.gif" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
Shem Hotep ("I go in peace").<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view&current=LarenGalloway1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/LarenGalloway1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
Black Boy’s Blue Eyes Show Lesion<br />
<br />
The boy in the pictures is probably one of the most striking examples of a black person with blue eyes. I believe his name is Laren Galloway and I do not announce his identity lightly. While it is interesting to see how the lad is growing up, this is not what caught my interest. Rather, what jumped out at me instantly was that he has some form of growing lesion on the inside of his left eye, specifically in the area of his iris. This lesion needs to be examined medically ASAP, (of course I leave room that his parents are already on top of it).<br />
<br />
Eye lesions are usually benign (non-cancerous) and remain so, but this is not always true, nor does it mean that they should ever be ignored. What is really key is that they are kept under routine watch by a medically qualified eye specialist. What that person will watch for are changes in shape and size, as indications of brewing problems. Laren’s lesion, barely visible in the first picture, has clearly increased in size, as he has aged.<br />
<br />
I have no contact with his family to voice my concern. I do recall that he might live in Louisiana. If you know this boy’s family or parents, please contact them and express the concern I present here. His eye sight and greater health/well-being are at risk without proper medical care. If you know this boy, but do not feel comfortable approaching his parents, you may send me contact information and I will contact them. Thanks (in advance) for helping to make sure this boy is being cared for.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view&current=AfricanWithWaardenburg1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/AfricanWithWaardenburg1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
Syndrome Gives Blacks Blue Eyes<br />
<br />
A recent commenter on this blog suggested that the blue-eyed Black boy, in an earlier post, may present Waardenburg Syndrome, a rare autosomal genetic disorder that has possible bright blue eyes as one of its qualifying criteria, along with possible deafness (common). Actually, the cause of the blue eyes is a form of albinism that may include patches of non-pigmented skin or forehead hair, regardless of ethnicity.<br />
<br />
There are four types of Waardenburg Syndrome, with a mix of possible characteristics as the determinant. Medical challenges increase with type. The boy in the picture is displaying two major symptoms of type 1, as does the previous boy (perhaps) (here); bright blue eyes and dystopia canthorum, a condition where the inner corners of the eyes are set more widely apart, but with normally distanced eyes.<br />
<br />
Waardenburg occurs once in every 42,000 births, and is a deficiency inherited from a single parent, who may or may not display similar characteristics. Regarding the eye, color abnormalities come in three forms; heterochromia (multiple colors), bilateral isohypochromia (pale blue eyes), or fundus (reflective) pigmentary alterations (spottiness).<br />
<br />
So, besides naturally occurring genetic blue eyes in dark skinned people, as previously discussed, understanding Waardenburg's is another avenue of accurately recognizing phenotype (gene expression) in eye color.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view&current=162.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/162.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
Robyn Why do I love you?<br />
<br />
You have to walk carefully in the beginning of love; the running across fields into your lover's arms can only come later when you're sure they won't laugh if you trip. A hundred hearts would be too few<br />
To carry all my love for you. The most important things are the hardest to say, because words diminish them. If love is blind, why is lingerie so popular? Love is only a dirty trick played on us to achieve continuation of the species. Love does not consist of gazing at each other, but in looking together in the same direction. It is astonishing how little one feels alone when one loves.<br />
<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view&current=dim1.gif" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/dim1.gif" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>Sawaad Amen Rahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16088798910340182517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11219995.post-11446203934238718912010-10-14T20:15:00.001-05:002011-01-03T20:34:15.240-06:00Why are White People White-Skinned?<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view&current=logo2.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/logo2.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/?action=view¤t=31818_1256219376012_1545444231_3051.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/31818_1256219376012_1545444231_3051.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view¤t=unia2.gif" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/unia2.gif" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
Shem Hotep ("I go in peace").<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view&current=white_skin1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/white_skin1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
Why are White People White-Skinned?<br />
<br />
Being black, I scarcely wondered why I was black, but I did often wonder why white people were white. I never believed in the ‘God wanted it that way’ answer. It seems very natural that whites and blacks would harbor the same question, however taboo it is to toss it into conversation. Indeed, science has provided us with an answer, but I hardly see it in print for non-scientists.<br />
<br />
The scientific record shows relatively hair-less humans evolving from hairy primates in Africa. At the time when hairy proto-humans ‘loss’ their hair and developed sweat glands for cooling their big brains, they also needed to adapt their production and regulation of the pro-steroid hormone, Vitamin D(3), which was critical to healthy bones and reproduction. The result was an adaptive higher level of melanin in the skin, turning it dark. Viola, healthy dark-skin humans to populate the world!<br />
<br />
As early Africans migrated north to Eurasia, with its lessened sun intensity, dark skin posed a problem. Vitamin D(3) fell to unhealthy levels, except that built-in genetically adaptive skin traits quickly kicked-in to lightened skin responsible for producing the required D(3). The farther north they ventured the lighter the skin needed to be to absorb the right amount of sun. It really is that simple. There is a great book that explains all of this in detail, written by recognized skin authority, Nina Jablonski PhD., called “Skin: A Natural History” (here).<br />
<br />
So there it is - latitude (north/south position) on the globe pretty much dictates skin color (here). There are a few exceptions to this rule, associated with levels of Vitamin D in the diet. By example, the Inuits (indigenous Arctic people) are relatively darker, even at such a high latitude, because of oily-fish diets laden with Vitamin D(3). Aborigines in continental Australia, arriving via the ‘intercoastal migration’, maintained their melanin through similar fish-rich diets, on the coast, coupled with the fierce demands of an intense interior desert sun.<br />
<br />
As a side bar, and from a Vitamin D(3) healthiness perspective, the continental US is (on average) too sunny for most fair whites, and not sunny enough for most brown-skin blacks. Everyone needs Vitamin D management for good health.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view&current=16C.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/16C.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
Robyn, I love you.<br />
<br />
Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic. A life lived in love will never be dull.<br />
Love many things, for therein lies the true strength, and whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love is done well. Life is meaningless only if we allow it to be. Each of us has the power to give life meaning, to make our time and our bodies and our words into instruments of love and hope. The more I think it over, the more I feel that there is nothing more truly artistic than to love people.<br />
Your task is not to seek love, but merely to seek & find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it. Love's greatest gift is its ability to make everything it touches sacred. Why love if losing hurts so much? We love to know that we are not alone.Sawaad Amen Rahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16088798910340182517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11219995.post-78375480259619625292010-10-07T20:11:00.000-05:002011-01-03T20:14:46.455-06:00Why Are Black People Black-Skinned?<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view&current=images9.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/images9.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/?action=view¤t=31818_1256219376012_1545444231_3051.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/31818_1256219376012_1545444231_3051.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view¤t=unia2.gif" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/unia2.gif" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
Shem Hotep ("I go in peace").<br />
<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view&current=Africans1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/Africans1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
Why Are Black People Black-Skinned?<br />
<br />
While asking the question ‘Why are White People White?’ (here), I touched on that black people are black by the same mechanism. However, my explanation was too brief, and the question deserves its own full answer. Keep in mind this evolutionary cheat-sheet: first, there was panting and hairiness, and then came limited sweating and hairiness, and now we have full-body sweating and no hair (little hair).<br />
<br />
To begin, earlier hairy primates, or proto-humans, living in Africa were less efficient at dissipating the body heat that resulted from strenuous exertion (hunting, gathering, and avoiding predators). Panting is the way most mammals cool themselves, rather than through sweating. As an evolutionary alternative, sweat glands appeared first over hairy bodies and then over less-hairy bodies, allowing for rapid cooling and quick evaporation. Evaporative cooling pulls heat away, countering the insulating effect, whereby the moisture stays on the skin, trapped by hair, and increasing in temperature from both the sun and internal exertion.<br />
<br />
Indeed, sweat glands were an improvement over panting, allowing for greater exertion, but there was another hurdle. Full-body hair on proto humans grew out of ‘white (non-pigmented) skin’ underneath, in combination to regulate Vitamin D(3) production, for bone and reproductive health. Without the hair to block the sun, the skin had to take on this critical task by itself, via melanin production, thereby making the evolutionary case from fully covered, dark haired, white-skinned, proto-humans into hair-less dark-skinned humanoid descendants. Viola, black people!<br />
<br />
It was relentless large brain demands (thinking) of proto-humans that drove body evolution to change and advance. Hairlessness, sweat glands, and dark-skin proved a potent combination in response, allowing humans to run greater distances, fight longer fights, dehydrate at a slower pace, and recover normal body temperature more quickly. Humanoids quickly became formidable foes, as their body capabilities ‘caught up to’ their brainy demands.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view&current=15F.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/15F.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
Robyn, I will always love you.<br />
<br />
What a happy and holy fashion it is that those who love one another should rest on the same pillow. A career is wonderful, but you can't curl up with it on a cold night. Love is an act of endless forgiveness, a tender look which becomes a habit. If someone thinks that love and peace is a cliche that must have been left behind in the Sixties, that's his problem. Love and peace are eternal. One word frees us of all the weight and pain of life: that word is love. Experience is how life catches up with us and teaches us to love and forgive each other.The greatest degree of inner tranquility comes from the development of love and compassion. The more we care for the happiness of others, the greater is our own sense of well-being.Sawaad Amen Rahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16088798910340182517noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11219995.post-59038205539818373372010-09-26T11:55:00.000-05:002010-11-21T12:00:36.207-06:00The History Of African Liberation Day.<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view&current=20_wingate011.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/20_wingate011.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/?action=view¤t=31818_1256219376012_1545444231_3051.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/31818_1256219376012_1545444231_3051.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view¤t=unia2.gif" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/unia2.gif" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
Shem Hotep ("I go in peace").<br />
<b>The History Of African Liberation Day <br />
<i></i></b><br />
<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view&current=africa_470x352.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/africa_470x352.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
On April 15, 1958, in the city of Accra Ghana, African leaders and political activists gathered at the first Conference of Independent African States. It was attended by representatives of the governments of Ethiopia, Ghana, Liberia, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia, The United Arab Republic (which was the federation of Egypt and Syria) and representatives of the National Liberation Front of Algeria and the Union of Cameroonian Peoples. This conference was significant in that it represented the first Pan-African Conference held on African soil. It was also significant in that it represented the collective expression of African People’s disgust with the system of colonialism and imperialism, which brought so much suffering to African People. Further, it represented the collective will to see the system of colonialism permanently done away with. <br />
<br />
After 500 years of the most brutal suffering known to humanity, the rape of Africa and the subsequent slave trade, which cost Africa in excess of 100,000,000 of her children, the masses of African People singularly, separately, individually, in small disconnected groupings for centuries had said, “enough”! But in 1958, at the Accra Conference, it was being said in ways that emphasized joint, coordinated and unified action. <br />
<br />
This conference gave sharp clarity and definition to Pan-Africanism, the total liberation and unification of Africa under scientific socialism. The conference as well laid the foundation and the strategy for the further intensification and coordination of the next stage of the African Revolution, for the liberation of the rest of Africa, and eventual and complete unification. <br />
<br />
The Conference called for the founding of African Freedom Day, a day to, “mark each year the onward progress of the liberation movement, and to symbolize the determination of the People of Africa to free themselves from foreign domination and exploitation.” <br />
<br />
Five years later after the First Conference of Independent African States in the city of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia another historical meeting occurred. On May 25, 1963, leaders of thirty-two independent African States met to form the Organization of African Unity (OAU). By then more than two thirds of the continent had achieved independence from colonial rule. At this historic meeting the date of Africa Freedom Day was changed from April 15th to May 25th and Africa Freedom Day was declared African Liberation Day (ALD). African Liberation Day has been held on May 25th in every corner of the world since. <br />
<br />
African Liberation Day as an institution within the Pan-African movement reflects the growth and development of Pan-Africanism. When Pan-Africanism was faced with fighting colonialism, the focus of African Liberation Day was on the anti-colonial struggle and the fight for national independence. As Pan-Africanism grew stronger and developed into a more mature objective, African Liberation Day activities reflected this maturation. <br />
<br />
African Liberation Day has contributed to the struggle to raise the level of political awareness and organization in African communities worldwide. It has further been used as a tool to provide a platform for many African and other oppressed peoples to inform the African masses about their respective struggles for true liberation and development. Particularly for Southern Africa, African Liberation Day played a critical role in the defeat of colonialism and apartheid. It inspired others to support through various progressive organizations, liberation committees and movements both in Africa and the socialist countries around the world, the building of anti-colonial and national liberation movements by generating arms for the freedom fighters, offering a platform where the world could receive political education on the nature of the struggle, and providing a mass assembly where the spirit and moral of the freedom fighters could be reinvigorated. <br />
<br />
African Liberation Day has helped to expose U.S. led imperialism, Zionism and colonialism as enemies of Africa. Imperialists for decades have attempted to distance African Liberation Day (and the African Revolution in general) from the struggle for socialism. Remember that it was, and is, capitalist Europe, and not the Soviet Union, Cuba, North Korea, China or Vietnam which occupied, colonized and exploited Africa. Several states in Africa today stand independent because of military and other assistance from socialist countries. <br />
<br />
From the first ALD held in Accra, Ghana where Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah planted the first seed to the hundreds of African Liberation Day observances which have occurred all over the world. African Liberation Day stands committed to the struggle for national independence, African redemption, African liberation, African unification and scientific socialism. Today African Liberation Day activities are being organized throughout Africa and all over the world where African people are living and struggling. The journey down the Revolutionary path can only be accomplished by joining a revolutionary organization working for the people. The freedom of Africa and African people demands revolutionary action through revolutionary organization.<br />
<br />
Welcome to the Official A-APRP Website.<br />
http://www.aaprp-intl.org/<a href="http://www.aaprp-intl.org/"></a><br />
<br />
The All-African People's Revolutionary Party (AAPRP) is a permanent, independent, revolutionary, socialist, Pan-African Political Party based in Africa, the just homeland of African People all over the world. It is an integral part of the Pan-African and world socialist movement. The A-APRP understands that "all people of African descent, whether they live in North or South America, the Caribbean, or in any other part of the world, are Africans and belong to the African Nation."<br />
<br />
The All-African People's Revolutionary Party recognizes that African People born and living in over 113 countries are one people, with one identity, one history, one culture, one nation and one destiny. We have one common enemy — capitalism, in its many forms and manifestations — imperialism, zionism, racism and neo-colonialism. We suffer from disunity, disorganization and ideological confusion. And, we all have only one scientific and correct solution, Pan-Africanism: the total liberation and unification of Africa under scientific socialism.Sawaad Amen Rahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16088798910340182517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11219995.post-19946732039442360782010-09-19T20:00:00.000-05:002010-10-27T13:35:43.506-05:00Splendor in Medieval Africa<a href="http://s1088.photobucket.com/albums/i339/dennis19605/?action=view¤t=400px-Mali_-_Bozo_girl_in_Bamako.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1088.photobucket.com/albums/i339/dennis19605/400px-Mali_-_Bozo_girl_in_Bamako.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/?action=view¤t=31818_1256219376012_1545444231_3051.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/31818_1256219376012_1545444231_3051.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view¤t=unia2.gif" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/unia2.gif" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
Shem Hotep ("I go in peace").<br />
Splendor in Medieval Africa A visit to Mali's medieval past.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s1088.photobucket.com/albums/i339/dennis19605/?action=view¤t=Timbuktu.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1088.photobucket.com/albums/i339/dennis19605/Timbuktu.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
As an amateur medievalist, I have become keenly aware of how the history of Europe in the middle ages is often misunderstood or dismissed by otherwise intelligent, educated individuals. The medieval era of those nations outside of Europe is doubly ignored, first for its disreputable time frame (the "dark ages"), and then for its apparent lack of direct impact on modern western society. <br />
<br />
Such is the case with Africa in the middle ages, a fascinating field of study that suffers from the further insult of racism. With the unavoidable exception of Egypt, the history of Africa before the incursion of Europeans has in the past been dismissed, erroneously and at times deliberately, as inconsequential to the development of modern society. Fortunately, some scholars are working to correct this grave error. The study of medieval African societies has value, not only because we can learn from all civilizations in all time frames, but because these societies reflected and influenced a myriad of cultures that, due to the Diaspora that began in the 16th century, have spread throughout the modern world. <br />
<br />
One of these fascinating and near-forgotten societies is the medieval Kingdom of Mali, which thrived as a dominant power in west Africa from the thirteenth to the fifteenth century. Founded by the Mande-speaking Mandinka2 people, early Mali was governed by a council of caste-leaders who chose a "mansa" to rule. In time, the position of mansa evolved into a more powerful role similar to a king or emperor. <br />
<br />
According to tradition, Mali was suffering from a fearful drought when a visitor told the king, Mansa Barmandana, that the drought would break if he converted to Islam. This he did, and as predicted the drought did end. Other Mandinkans followed the king's lead and converted as well, but the mansa did not force a conversion, and many retained their Mandinkan beliefs. This religious freedom would remain throughout the centuries to come as Mali emerged as a powerful state. <br />
<br />
The man primarily responsible for Mali's rise to prominence is Sundiata Keita. Although his life and deeds have taken on legendary proportions, Sundiata was no myth but a talented military leader. He led a successful rebellion against the oppressive rule of Sumanguru, the Susu leader who had taken control of the Ghanaian Empire. After the Susu downfall, Sundiata laid claim to the lucrative gold and salt trade that had been so significant to Ghanaian prosperity. As mansa, he established a cultural exchange system whereby the sons and daughters of prominent leaders would spend time in foreign courts, thus promoting understanding and a better chance of peace among nations. <br />
<br />
Upon Sundiata's death in 1255 his son, Wali, not only continued his work but made great strides in agricultural development. Under Mansa Wali's rule, competition was encouraged among trading centers such as Timbuktu and Jenne, strengthening their economic positions and allowing them to develop into important centers of culture. <br />
<br />
Next to Sundiata, the most well-known and possibly the greatest ruler of Mali was Mansa Musa. During his 25-year reign, Musa doubled the territory of the Malian Empire and tripled its trade. Because he was a devout Muslim, Musa made a pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324, astonishing the peoples he visited with his wealth and generosity. So much gold did Musa introduce into circulation in the middle east that it took about a dozen years for the economy to recover. <br />
<br />
Gold was not the only form of Malian riches. Early Mandinka society venerated creative arts, and this did not change as Islamic influences helped to shape Mali. Education was also highly valued; Timbuktu was a significant center of learning with several prestigious schools. This intriguing blend of economic wealth, cultural diversity, artistic endeavors and higher learning resulted in a splendid society to rival any contemporary European nation. <br />
<br />
Malian society had its drawbacks, yet it is important to view these aspects in their historical setting. Slavery was an integral part of the economy at a time when the institution had declined (yet still existed) in Europe; but the European serf was rarely better off than a slave, bound by law to the land. By today's standards, justice could be harsh in Africa, but no harsher than European medieval punishments. Women had very few rights, but such was certainly true in Europe as well, and Malian women, just like European women, were at times able to participate in business (a fact that disturbed and surprised Muslim chroniclers). War was not unknown on either continent -- just as today. <br />
<br />
After the death of Mansa Musa, the Kingdom of Mali went into a slow decline. For another century its civilization held sway in West Africa, until Songhay established itself as a dominant force in the 1400s. Traces of medieval Mali's greatness still remain, but those traces are fast disappearing as the unscrupulous plunder the archaeological remains of the region's wealth. <br />
<br />
Mali is just one of many African societies whose past deserves a closer look. I hope to see more scholars explore this long-ignored field of study, and more of us open our eyes to the splendor of Medieval Africa. <br />
<br />
<i><br />
MEDIEVAL AFRICA<br />
<b></b></i>From around AD 750 to 1500, lands to the south of Africa’s Sahara Desert were home to many thriving civilizations. Muslim kings ruled in cities like TIMBUKTU, and chiefs called OBAS were powerful in rainforest kingdoms. SWAHILI peoples became rich through trade.<br />
HOW DID TRADERS CROSS THE SAHARA DESERT? <br />
Traders from North Africa crossed the Sahara together in a group called a caravan. They led as many as 10,000 camels, heavily laden with goods, in a long line known as a camel train. At the southern edge of the Sahara, the goods were transferred to donkeys or human porters, to be carried farther south.<br />
<b>WHICH AFRICAN GOODS WERE HIGHLY PRIZED? <br />
<i></i></b>Gold, ivory, ebony, and slaves from West African kingdoms such as Ghana, Mali, and Songhai were sold in North Africa and the Middle East. They were traded for salt and copper, mined in the Sahara. Later, European traders came for gold, ebony, and slaves.<br />
TIMBUKTU<br />
Timbuktu (in central Mali) was one of the most important cities on the edge of the Sahara. After Muslim scholars brought the religion of Islam to the region, around 900, it became a great center of Muslim learning, with schools, a university, and a special market where valuable, handwritten books were sold.<br />
<b>HOW DID TIMBUKTU BECOME WEALTHY? <br />
<i></i></b>Like a number of other cities on the edge of the Sahara, such as Gao and Jenne, Timbuktu was also on the banks of the Niger River. These cities were inland ports. Merchants from the south sent boatloads of gold, ivory, cotton, dried fish, and kola nuts upriver to them, to be sold to people living there, or to be carried to lands farther north. Timbuktu became a terminus (end point) for one of the main trading routes crossing the Sahara.<br />
<b>WHY DID MUSLIM PILGRIMS GO TO TIMBUKTU? <br />
<i></i></b>Many Muslim pilgrims traveled to Timbuktu to honor the city’s 333 resident saints. These were celebrated Muslim scholars and teachers who taught their faith to people in the surrounding lands. Many beautiful mosques were built in Timbuktu.<br />
SWAHILI<br />
Swahili became the main language used by different peoples on the coast and islands of East Africa. Many of its words were taken from Arabic—the language of traders who sailed across the Indian Ocean, linking India and Arabia with East African ports such as Mogadishu, Gedi, and Kilwa.<br />
WHO DID THE SWAHILI PEOPLES TRADE WITH? <br />
East Africans produced valuable goods, such as leather, frankincense, leopard skins, ivory, iron, copper, and gold. They sold these to Indian Ocean traders. From around 1071, they sent ambassadors to trade with China, and, from 1418, welcomed Chinese merchant ships to East Africa’s ports.<br />
<b>ZANZIBAR <br />
<i></i></b>The island of Zanzibar, off the coast of East Africa, is where Swahili was first spoken. It became a major trading center for slaves, ivory, and cloves.<br />
<b>OBAS<br />
<i></i></b>From around 1250 to 1800, a number of different kingdoms made up what is now southwest Nigeria, in West Africa. Each of these was ruled by an oba. The obas were both religious and political leaders. Their subjects, the Yoruba people, lived as farmers, and built city-states surrounded by massive walls of earth.<br />
WHERE WERE MANY STATUES OF OBAS MADE? <br />
People living in the rainforest kingdom of Benin, now in south Nigeria, were expert metalworkers and cast elaborate portrait heads of their obas, as well as decorative plaques and ceremonial objects. These were made from brass or bronze and were used for ancestor worship, or to decorate the rulers’ palaces.<br />
<b>WHAT HAPPENED TO THE KINGDOMS OF THE OBAS? <br />
<i></i></b>The power of the obas and other African rulers was weakened by the arrival of Europeans. Portuguese, Dutch, and British traders took back news to their countries of the riches of Africa. Explorers were encouraged to travel there and, by 1900, almost all of Africa was ruled by European powers.Sawaad Amen Rahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16088798910340182517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11219995.post-35403574579806531522010-09-11T13:27:00.001-05:002010-10-27T13:35:00.095-05:00THE DESTRUCTION OF THE TASMANIAN ABORIGINES<a href="http://s1090.photobucket.com/albums/i369/dennis20001/?action=view¤t=African_Woman_Warrior.gif" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1090.photobucket.com/albums/i369/dennis20001/African_Woman_Warrior.gif" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/?action=view¤t=31818_1256219376012_1545444231_3051.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/31818_1256219376012_1545444231_3051.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view¤t=unia2.gif" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/unia2.gif" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
Shem Hotep ("I go in peace").<br />
<br />
<b>BLACK WAR THE DESTRUCTION OF THE TASMANIAN ABORIGINES<br />
<br />
<i></i></b><br />
<a href="http://s1090.photobucket.com/albums/i369/dennis20001/?action=view¤t=truganinni.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1090.photobucket.com/albums/i369/dennis20001/truganinni.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
To many, the mention of Tasmania evokes humorous recollections of the Tasmanian devil--the voracious marsupial popularized in American cartoons. Tasmania is an island slightly larger in size than West Virginia, and is located two-hundred miles off Australia's southeast coast. The aboriginal inhabitants of the island were Black people who probably went there by crossing an ancient land bridge that connected Tasmania to the continent of Australia.<br />
<br />
The Black aborigines of Tasmania were marked by tightly curled hair with skin complexions ranging from black to reddish-brown. They were relatively short in stature with little body fat. They were the indigenous people of Tasmania and their arrival there began at least 35,000 years ago. With the passage of time, the gradual rising of the sea level submerged the Australian-Tasmanian land bridge and the Black aborigines of Tasmania experienced more than 10,000 years of solitude and physical isolation from the rest of the world--the longest period of isolation in human history.<br />
<br />
It is our great misfortune that the Black people of Tasmania bequeathed no written histories. We do not know that they called themselves or what they named their land. All we really have are minute fragments, bits of evidence, and the records and documents of Europeans who began coming to the island in 1642.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>THE BLACK FAMILY IN TASMANIA<br />
<i></i></b><br />
The Tasmanian aborigines were hunter-gatherers with an exceptionally basic technology. The Tasmanians made only a few types of simple stone and wooden tools. They lacked agriculture, livestock, pottery, and bows and arrows.<br />
<br />
The Black family in Tasmania was a highly organized one--its form and substance directed by custom. A man joined with a woman in marriage and formed a social partnership with her. It would appear that such marriages were usually designed by the parents--but this is something about which very little is actually known. The married couple seems to have remained together throughout the course of their lives, and only in rare cases did a man have more than one wife at the same time. Their children were not only well cared for, but were treated with great affection. Elders were cared for by the the family, and children were kept at the breast for longer than is usual in child care among Europeans.<br />
<br />
<b>THE BEGINNING OF THE END OF THE BLACKS<br />
<i></i></b><br />
The isolation of Tasmania's Black aborigines ended in 1642 with the arrival and intrusion of the first Europeans. Abel Jansen Tasman, the Dutch navigator after whom the island is named, anchored off the Tasmanian coast in early December, 1642. Tasman named the island Van Diemen's land, after Anthony Van Diemen--the governor-general of the Dutch East India Company. The island continued to be called Van Diemen's Land until 1855.<br />
<br />
On March 5, 1772, a French expedition led by Nicholas Marion du Fresne landed on the island. Within a few hours his sailors had shot several Aborigines. On January 28, 1777, the British landed on the island. Following coastal New South Wales in Australia, Tasmania was established as a British convict settlement in 1803. These convicts had been harshly traumatized and were exceptionally brutal. In addition to soldiers, administrators, and missionaries, eventually more than 65,000 men and women convicts were settled in Tasmania. A glaringly inefficient penal system allowed such convicts to escape into the Tasmanian hinterland where they exercised the full measure of their blood-lust and brutality upon the island's Black occupants. According to social historian Clive Turnbull, the activities of these criminals would soon include the "shooting, bashing out brains, burning alive, and slaughter of Aborigines for dogs' meat."<br />
<br />
<b>TASMANIAN DEVILS IN HUMAN FORM<br />
<i></i></b><br />
As early as 1804 the British began to slaughter, kidnap and enslave the Black people of Tasmania. The colonial government itself was not even inclined to consider the aboriginal Tasmanians as full human beings, and scholars began to discuss civilization as a unilinear process with White people at the top and Black people at the bottom. To the Europeans of Tasmania the Blacks were an entity fit only to be exploited in the most sadistic of manners--a sadism that staggers the imagination and violates all human morality. As UCLA professor, Jared Diamond, recorded:<br />
<br />
"Tactics for hunting down Tasmanians included riding out on horseback to shoot them, setting out steel traps to catch them, and putting out poison flour where they might find and eat it. Sheperds cut off the penis and testicles of aboriginal men, to watch the men run a few yards before dying. At a hill christened Mount Victory, settlers slaughtered 30 Tasmanians and threw their bodies over a cliff. One party of police killed 70 Tasmanians and dashed out the children's brains."<br />
<br />
Such vile and animalistic behavior on the part of the White settlers of Tasmania was the rule rather than the exception. In spite of their wanton cruelty, however, punishment in Tasmania was exceedingly rare for the Whites, although occasionally Whites were sentenced for crimes against Blacks. For example, there is an account of a man who was flogged for exhibiting the ears and other body parts of a Black boy that he had mutilated alive. We hear of another European punished for cutting off the little finger of an Aborigine and using it as a tobacco stopper. Twenty-five lashes were stipulated for Europeans convicted of tying aboriginal "Tasmanian women to logs and burning them with firebrands, or forcing a woman to wear the head of her freshly murdered husband on a string around her neck."<br />
<br />
Not a single European, however, was ever punished for the murder of Tasmanian Aborigines. Europeans thought nothing of tying Black men to trees and using them for target practice. Black women were kidnapped, chained and exploited as sexual slaves. White convicts regularly hunted Black people for sport, casually shooting, spearing or clubbing the men to death, torturing and raping the women, and roasting Black infants alive. As historian, James Morris, graphically noted:<br />
<br />
"We hear of children kidnapped as pets or servants, of a woman chained up like an animal in a sheperd's hut, of men castrated to keep them off their own women. In one foray seventy aborigines were killed, the men shot, the women and children dragged from crevices in the rocks to have their brains dashed out. A man called Carrotts, desiring a native woman, decapitated her husband, hung his head around her neck and drove her home to his shack."<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>THE BLACK WAR<br />
<i></i></b><br />
"The Black War of Van Diemen's Land" was the name of the official campaign of terror directed against the Black people of Tasmania. Between 1803 and 1830 the Black aborigines of Tasmania were reduced from an estimated five-thousand people to less than seventy-five. An article published December 1, 1826 in the Tasmanian Colonial Times declared that:<br />
<br />
"We make no pompous display of Philanthropy. The Government must remove the natives--if not, they will be hunted down like wild beasts and destroyed!"<br />
<br />
With the declaration of martial law in November 1828, Whites were authorized to kill Blacks on sight. Although the Blacks offered a heroic resistance, the wooden clubs and sharpened sticks of the Aborigines were no match against the firepower, ruthlessness, and savagery exercised by the Europeans against them. In time, a bounty was declared on Blacks, and "Black catching," as it was called, soon became a big business; five pounds for each adult Aborigine, two pounds for each child. After considering proposals to capture them for sale as slaves, poison or trap them, or hunt them with dogs, the government settled on continued bounties and the use of mounted police.<br />
<br />
After the Black War, for political expediency, the status of the Blacks, who were no longer regarded as a physical threat, was reduced to that of a nuisance and a bother, and with loud and pious exclamations that it was for the benefit of the Blacks themselves, the remainder of the Aborigines were rounded up and placed in concentration camps.<br />
<br />
In 1830 George Augustus Robinson, a Christian missionary, was hired to round up the remaining Tasmanian Blacks and take them to Flinders Island, thirty miles away. Many of Robinson's captives died along the way. By 1843 only fifty survived. Jared Diamond recorded that:<br />
<br />
"On Flinders Island Robinson was determined to civilize and Christianize the survivors. His settlement--at a windy site with little fresh water--was run like a jail. Children were separated from parents to facilitate the work of civilizing them. The regimental daily schedule included Bible reading, hymn singing, and inspection of beds and dishes for cleanness and neatness. However, the jail diet caused malnutrition, which combined with illness to make the natives die. Few infants survived more than a few weeks. The government reduced expenditures in the hope that the native would die out. By 1869 only Truganini, one other woman, and one man remained alive."<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>THE LAST TASMANIANS<br />
<i></i></b><br />
With the steady decrease in the number of Aborigines, White people began to take a bizarre interest in the Blacks, whom Whites believed "to be a missing link between humans and apes." In 1859 Charles Darwin's book, On the Origin of Species, popularized the fantasy of biological (and therefore social) evolution, with Whites at the top of the evolutionary scale and Blacks at the bottom. The Aborigines were portrayed as a group of people "doomed to die out according to a natural law, like the dodo, and the dinosaur." This is during the same period in the United States that it was legally advocated that a Black man had no rights that a White man was bound to respect.<br />
<br />
William Lanney, facetiously known as King Billy, was the last full-blood male Tasmanian. He was born in 1835 and grew up on Flinders Island. At the age of thirteen Lanney was removed with the remnant of his people to a concentration camp called Oyster Cove. Ultimately he became a sailor and some years he went whaling. As the last male Tasmanian, Lanney was regarded as a human relic. In January 1860 he was introduced to Prince Albert. He returned ill from a whaling voyage in February 1868, and on March 2, 1868 he died in his room at the Dog and Partridge public-house in Hobart, Tasmania.<br />
<br />
Lanney, the subject of ridicule in life, became, in death, a desirable object. Even while he lay in the Colonial Hospital at least two persons determined to have his bones. They claimed to act in the interest of the Royal Society of Tasmania. On March 6, 1868, the day of the funeral, fifty or sixty residents interested in Lanney gathered at the hospital. Rumors were circulating that the body had been mutilated and, to satisfy the mourners, the coffin was opened. When those who wished to do so had seen the body, the coffin was closed and sealed. Meanwhile it was reported that, on the preceding night, a surgeon had entered the dead-house where Lanney lay, skinned the head, and removed the skull. Reportedly, the head of a patient who had died in the hospital on the same day was similarly skinned, and the skull was placed inside Lanney's scalp and the skin drawn over it. Members of the Royal Society were "greatly annoyed" at being thus forestalled and, as body-snatching was expected, it was decided that nothing should be left worth taking and Lanney's hands and feet were cut off. In keeping with the tradition no one was punished. William Lanney, the last Black man in Tasmania, was gone.<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s1090.photobucket.com/albums/i369/dennis20001/?action=view¤t=220px-Truganini_and_last_4_tasmanian_aborigines.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1090.photobucket.com/albums/i369/dennis20001/220px-Truganini_and_last_4_tasmanian_aborigines.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<b>QUEEN TRUGANINI: THE LAST TASMANIAN<br />
<i></i></b><br />
"Not, perhaps, before, has a race of men been utterly destroyed within seventy-five years. This is the story of a race which was so destroyed, that of the aborigines of Tasmania--destroyed not only by a different manner of life but by the ill-will of the usurpers of the race's land.... With no defences but cunning and the most primitive weapons, the natives were no match for the sophisticated individualists of knife and gun. By 1876 the last of them was dead. So perished a whole people." --Clive Turnbull<br />
<br />
On May 7, 1876, Truganini, the last full-blood Black person in Tasmania, died at seventy-three years of age. Her mother had been stabbed to death by a European. Her sister was kidnapped by Europeans. Her intended husband was drowned by two Europeans in her presence, while his murderers raped her.<br />
<br />
It might be accurately said that Truganini's numerous personal sufferings typify the tragedy of the Black people of Tasmania as a whole. She was the very last. "Don't let them cut me up," she begged the doctor as she lay dying. After her burial, Truganini's body was exhumed, and her skeleton, strung upon wires and placed upright in a box, became for many years the most popular exhibit in the Tasmanian Museum and remained on display until 1947. Finally, in 1976--the centenary years of Truganini's death--despite the museum's objections, her skeleton was cremated and her ashes scattered at sea.<br />
<br />
<b>CONCLUSION<br />
<i></i></b><br />
The tragedy of the Black aborigines of Tasmania, however painful its recounting may be, is a story that must be told. What lessons do we learn from the destruction of the Tasmanians? Truganini's life and death, although extreme, effectively chronicle the association not only between White people and Black people in Tasmania, but, to a significant degree, around the world. Between 1803 and 1876 the Black aborigines of Tasmania were completely destroyed. During this period the Black people of Tasmania were debased, degraded and eventually exterminated. Indeed, given the long and well-documented history of carnage, cruelty, savagery, and the monstrous pain, suffering, and inhumanity Europeans have inflicted upon Black people in general, and the Black people of Tasmania in particular, one could argue that they themselves, the White settlers of Tasmania, far more than the ravenous beast portrayed in American cartoons, have been the real Tasmanian devil.<br />
<br />
<b>INDIGENOUS TASMANIANS TODAY: SURVIVORS OF THE HOLOCAUST<br />
<i></i></b><br />
The above article was written around 1997 and was a part of an ongoing series of articles designed to draw attention to the past and present, the history and the current status, of Black people around the world. In that sense I believe that it is basically a very good article. It should be pointed out though that it was written before my first trip to Australia. More and more, over the the course of time, I have come to find that travel is a wonderful educational experience indeed, and that during the process you often come across information not commonly found in books. <br />
<br />
In November 1998 I was invited to speak at the World's Indigenous Peoples Conference in Toowomba, Queensland, Australia. During my Australian sojourn, in addition to the Conference, I was able to travel to several regions and three states. For the first time I interacted with large numbers of Indigenous Australians. The Conference itself was magnificent; a real triumph and one of the great experiences of my life. Even before the Conference convened, however, I was shocked to meet for the initial time a Black man from Tasmania! He was professor Errol West of the University of Southern Queensland. Prof. West (a noted scholar and an excellent poet) and I quckly developed a close bond and soon became good friends. We talked and socialized together a great deal and it became readily apparent that only the full-blood Blacks had perished in the holocaust, and that there were Black people living in Tasmania today. Obviously, this was in stark contrast to all of the major writings on the subject. Prof. West also gave me a very different and contrasting view of Truganini. <br />
<br />
My trip to Australia gave me a great deal to think about and a lot to reassess. Eighteen months later I returned to Australia and saw even more of this fascinating country, and I have since learned a great deal more about the history and current conditions of the original people. And the education hasn't stopped. Several months ago I received a series of emails from a Tasmanian sister who expressed tremendous gratitude for the article and encouraged and assured me that the Blacks of Tasmania "are alive and still fighting for our rights and the recognition that we deserve as Indigenous peoples." In 2002 I plan to travel to Tasmania itself. And the education continues.Sawaad Amen Rahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16088798910340182517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11219995.post-77957557014595346942010-09-04T19:08:00.000-05:002010-10-26T19:41:54.878-05:00Trans-Saharan Slave Trade.<a href="http://s1088.photobucket.com/albums/i339/dennis19605/?action=view¤t=3e968846747845d9c1a18d1e9ae50773.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1088.photobucket.com/albums/i339/dennis19605/3e968846747845d9c1a18d1e9ae50773.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/?action=view¤t=31818_1256219376012_1545444231_3051.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/31818_1256219376012_1545444231_3051.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view¤t=unia2.gif" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/unia2.gif" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
Shem Hotep ("I go in peace").<br />
<br />
Trade Across the Sahara.<br />
<br />
Medieval Trade Routes Across the Sahara.<br />
<a href="http://s1088.photobucket.com/albums/i339/dennis19605/?action=view¤t=timbuktutrade.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1088.photobucket.com/albums/i339/dennis19605/timbuktutrade.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
The sands of the Sahara Desert could've been a major obstacle to trade between Africa, Europe, and the East, but it was more like a sandy sea with ports of trade on either side. In the south were cities such as Timbuktu and Gao; in the north, cities such as Ghadames (in present-day Libya). From there goods traveled onto Europe, Arabia, India, and China. <br />
<br />
Muslim traders from North Africa shipped goods across the Sahara using large camel caravans -- on average around a thousand camels, although there's a record which mentions caravans travelling between Egypt and Sudan that had 12,000 camels. <br />
<br />
They brought in mainly luxury goods such as textiles, silks, beads, ceramics, ornamental weapons, and utensils. These were traded for gold, ivory, woods such as ebony, and agricultural products such as kola nuts (which act as a stimulant as they contain caffeine). They also brought their religion, Islam, which spread along the trade routes. <br />
<br />
Nomads living in the Sahara traded salt, meat, and their knowledge as guides for cloth, gold, cereal, and slaves.<br />
<br />
Until the discovery of the the Americas, Mali was the principal producer of gold. African ivory was also sought after because it's softer than that from Indian elephants and therefore easier to carve. Slaves were wanted by the courts of Arab and Berber princes as servants, concubines, soldiers, and agricultural laborers.<br />
<br />
When Sonni Ali, the ruler of the Songhai Empire, which was situated to the east along the curve of the Niger River, conquered Mali in 1462, he set about developing both his own capital, Gao, and the main centers of Mali, Timbuktu and Jenne, into major cities which controlled a great deal of trade in the region.<br />
<br />
Arab Trans-Saharan Slave Trade.<br />
<a href="http://s1088.photobucket.com/albums/i339/dennis19605/?action=view¤t=arab_slave_trade_thumb3.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1088.photobucket.com/albums/i339/dennis19605/arab_slave_trade_thumb3.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
West African encounter with the Arabs.<br />
The conditions of trans-Saharan trade changed remarkably after Northern Africa became a part of the Islamic world in the late 7th century AD. The vast Umayyid caliphate, reaching from the slopes of Pyrenees to the banks of Indus, formed a solid market area the monetary system of which was based on gold. In practice, it meant that this precious metal had a great demand throughout the Islamic world. In the eastern parts of the caliphate, gold could obtained sufficiently from local mines or by recycling the ancient hoards. In the western parts, the situation was more difficult, for there are no gold mines in Northern Africa. However, the Muslim rulers in the west struck their own golden dinars. Since there is no evidence that they had imported gold from Egypt or the Middle East, they must have obtained it from other sources. Plausible alternatives are the mines of Sicily and southern Spain, which were known already in ancient times, and the existing Roman and Byzantine treasures. Yet part of the metal was inevitably brought from Western Africa. <br />
<br />
In fact, it seems that regular and intensive trade across the desert was organized quite soon after the Arabs had consolided their power in Northern Africa: both the major northern terminals of the trans-Saharan routes, Sijilmasa and Tahert, were founded in mid-8th century AD. However, the trade could succeed only because it managed to join up with the internal West African commercial network. By the arrival of first North African traders, perhaps in the early 8th century, the peoples of the savanna had already established large states, like Ghana and Gao, and cities, like Jenne which had some twenty thousand inhabitants. But new cities were also born at the desert edge, like Awdaghust, Kumbi Saleh and Tadamakka, and their destiny was tied closely with the continuity of the long distance trade: when the caravan routes later changed and the volume of trade declined, these towns, too, were soon abandoned. There were three basic routes across the Sahara: the "western", leading from Sijilmasa to Awdaghust; the "central", and the most important, leading from Ifriqiya to the Niger bend; and the "Egyptian", leading from Egypt to the Niger bend via Siwa and Kufra, which was, however, abandoned in the 10th century as it was too dangerous. <br />
<br />
Very little is known about the volume of the trans-Saharan trade during the first Islamic centuries. According to the contemporary Arabic sources, the caravans brought to the north annually huge amounts of gold, but modern estimates range from 2,000 to 3,000 kg per year. Nevertheless, a real boom in the trade began in the 10th century, with the establishment of the Fatimid caliphate in Northern Africa in 910. The reason was that the Fatimids, who were in rivalry both with the Umayyads of Spain and the Abbasids of Baghdad, needed constantly lots of gold to finance their continuous wars and extensive religious propaganda. The rise of Fatimids also meant that the western route became the most important, since their access to the central route was blocked by the Ibadites who still held Wargla. Yet the transfer of the Fatimid capital from Ifriqiya to Egypt in 971 caused a brief period of stagnation in the trade. Residing in Cairo, the Fatimid caliphs were no more interested in North African affairs, since they could obtain gold more easily from Nubian mines. <br />
<br />
A second boom took place in the late 11th century, as the Almoravids united western Sahara, Morocco and Islamic Spain into a single empire. Like the Fatimids, the Almoravids needed also lot of gold to finance their wars against the Christians in Spain and the rebelling Almohads in Maghrib. During the Almoravid period, gold seems to have flowed to the north with great amounts, for the Almoravid golden dinars became the most common and esteemed currency in the Mediterranean area, including the Christian world. A brief period of stagnation was followed after the downfall of Almoravids in 1147, but the trade continued steadily again from the mid-13th century until the Moroccan invasion in Timbuktu in 1591. <br />
The encounter of Islamic and West African cultures was peaceful, and it can be termed "controlled relationship". This concept is usually applied to the European encounter with China, where foreign traders were forced to obey the rules set by the Chinese government which decided unilaterally on the location of trade, the number of traders, as well as type and character of the goods. If the Europeans were not willing to accept these rules, they were not permitted to continue their trade. Before the outbreak of First Opium War in 1839, the Chinese empire was powerful enough to reject all military threats from the part of European naval powers. <br />
<br />
In Western Africa, the contact zone was limited to the desert edge cities, where North African traders were isolated for their own quarters, lying usually outside the local dwelling. Yet there was no racial discrimination. In fact, many of the traders took local concubines, as no women of their own society were available. This behaviour is understandable, for the traders had often to spend several years in the south, and there lived also permanent agents of North African trading companies. Afterwards twin cities, with separate quarters for the Muslim and non-Muslim population, became a common structure for urban settlements throughout Western Africa. <br />
<br />
On the other hand, the isolation of North African traders was partly voluntary for two reasons. First, the West African interior was as unhealthy for Arabs as the coastal area was for Europeans, and thus the traders were not willing to leave the desert edge cities where the conditions were healthier. Secondly, by isolating themselves, the traders were able to maintain their own culture and practice their own religion. Otherwise the traders had to follow local laws and customs, regardless whether they were against the Quranic law. But the cultural difference was recognized, and the traders were not intentionally forced to do such things which they felt offending. In China, the Europeans were obliged to perform the kowtow in front of the high mandarins, which they regarded extremely humiliating; in Western Africa, the Arab traders were exempted from performing the common gesture of submission in front of the kings, which was to sprinkle dust over one's head. <br />
The principal reason why the North African traders were willing to accommodate in the local conditions in Western Africa, was the same as in the case of Europeans in China: it was the only way to continue the profitable trade. Before the European discovery of America, West African mines were the most important single source of gold both for Northern Africa and Europe; it is estimated that two-thirds of all the gold circulating in the Mediterranean area in the Middle Ages was imported across the Sahara. This made the uninterrupted continuity of trade more important for North African rulers than their West African counterparts. The demand for salt, for which the Arabs bartered the gold in Western Africa, is usually overemphasized in the historiography. Contrariwise, the Saharan rock salt was an expensive luxury product and available to the wealthy people only. Furthermore, it could be quite easily substituted by locally produced salt from plants and soil, whereas the North African rulers could not obtain gold for their coins elsewhere. <br />
<br />
However, the position of the powerful states of the West African savanna was not based on the possession of the gold reserves, but on the control over the principal trade routes leading from the desert edge terminals to the gold fields in the south. In this way, the rulers of northern savanna could monopolize the trade, and they strictly prevented the Arabs to establish any direct contacts with the actual producers of gold. Inside Western Africa, the trade was carried on by local brokers, or the Dyula. <br />
The other reason was that the Arab traders were without the protection provided by their own civilization, while staying in sub-Saharan Africa. Before the wider introduction of firearms in the 16th century, the Arab rulers of Northern Africa had no real possibilities to threaten their West African counterparts with war, as there were no such differences between the military technology which guaranteed them any absolute superiority. Furthermore, the West African armies were very large, although the claims in Arabic sources, such as the ruler of Ghana having an army of 200,000 warriors, are certainly exaggerating. Yet, in any case, we can speak of tens of thousands. To send an army of an equal size across the Sahara was extremely hazardous, and the success of the Moroccan invasion in Timbuktu in 1591 is rather an exception which reinforces the general rule: the ruler of Songhay empire considered it unnecessary to poison the wells in the desert or to organize any effective counter-attack, because he was convinced that the Moroccans would perish in the desert anyway. In fact, Judar Pasha did lose a great deal of his men during the deathly march across the western Sahara. Besides the desert, another natural advantage which protected the West Africans, was the unhealthy environment. Most parts of the savanna are infected by trypanosomiasis, which is lethal especially for quadrupeds, thus preventing the large scale use of cavalry forces in this area.<br />
<br />
An illustrative example of the military encounter between North and West African states is the dispute on the possession of the important salt mines of Taghaza in central Sahara. At first Taghaza had been controlled by the Saharan nomads, but in the early 14th century the rulers of Mali managed to maintain some control over the routes leading these mines from the south. By the end of the following century, the askias of Songhay, which had superceded superceded Mali as the dominant power in Western Africa, extended their rule even further in the desert and appointed a governor in Taghaza. However, in 1544, Sultan Muhammad al-Mahdi, the founder of Sa'did power in Morocco, demanded the ruler of Songhay, askia Ishaq I, to give him the mines. Askia Ishaq naturally refused to do it, and a war broke out. The Moroccans sent an army to occupy Taghaza, but the army was destroyed in the desert. As response to this, a Songhay army consisting of Tuaregs, attacked northwards and sacked the southern parts of Morocco, forcing Sultan Muhammad to flee from Marrakesh. Similarly, the rulers of Bornu, lying around Lake Chad, were able to expand their political dominance deep into Fezzan, occupying the oases until the 16th century.<br />
<br />
With the increased volume of trans-Saharan trade in the Islamic period, new cultural influences began to spread in Western Africa. The most important of them was a new religion, Islam, which was adopted in the states belonging to the sphere of the caravan trade by the end of the eleventh century. The conversion was peaceful and it had been preceded by a long period of coexistence in the cities of the trade route terminues. Motives for the conversion were many: we should not underestimate the charm of novelty and human curiosity, nor the advantages the new religion could offer for individuals, like healing and social prestige. In Western Africa, Muslims are visibly distinguished from other people with their dressing and eating habits, and they do not hesitate to perform their religious ceremonies in public. For the rulers, the conversion offered several political advantages. First, they became, at least in theory but often in reality too, equals to North African rulers, which made the maintenance of diplomatic relations easier. Yet the conversion did not include any recognition of the political supremacy of North African rulers. Secondly, Islam provided them effective means to increase their power. Literacy enabled the goverment of large empires, and Islam could be used as unifying cult within the multiethnic and multireligious states. <br />
In Western Africa, Islam remained for a long time as a cult of the courts and commercial centres: Mali, Songhay and Bornu were no Muslim states, although medieval Arabic writers depicted them as such. Actually, the rulers were not anxious to spread the new religion among their subjects, since it had endangered their position. Contrariwise, the West African rulers had to play all the time a double role: in relation to Arab traders and rulers they acted as pious Muslims, but in relation to their own subjects they carefully fulfilled their duties as divine kings. In this way, Islam caused an internal tension in West Africa societies which occasionally broke out as civil wars, if the ruler could not maintain the balancy between the Muslim and traditionalist cliques. However, the adoption of Islam had not only political consequences but it also linked Western Africa culturally to the Islamic world and gave West Africans a concrete reason to cross the Sahara for the first time in their history.Sawaad Amen Rahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16088798910340182517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11219995.post-82142481688253766082010-08-28T19:34:00.001-05:002010-10-26T19:40:24.300-05:00Timbuktu: The El Dorado of Africa<a href="http://s1088.photobucket.com/albums/i339/dennis19605/?action=view¤t=untitleddfgh.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1088.photobucket.com/albums/i339/dennis19605/untitleddfgh.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/?action=view¤t=31818_1256219376012_1545444231_3051.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/31818_1256219376012_1545444231_3051.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view¤t=unia2.gif" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/unia2.gif" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
Shem Hotep ("I go in peace").<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s1088.photobucket.com/albums/i339/dennis19605/?action=view¤t=untitlederty.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1088.photobucket.com/albums/i339/dennis19605/untitlederty.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
Timbuktu: The El Dorado of Africa.<br />
<br />
Timbuktu is widely used to describe a place extremely far away and regarded by many as a myth. In reality it's a city in Mali, West Africa, of such great historical importance that in 1988 it was designated a World Heritage Site. <br />
Situated on the southernmost edge of the Sahara Desert, Timbuktu is about eight miles from the Niger River -- closer during the rainy season. It was founded in the twelfth century by Tuareg nomads. By the fourteenth century it had became a major center for the trans-Sahara gold and salt trade as well Islamic scholarship and culture, the Oxford University of the Sahara, despite the rise and fall of powerful dynasties around it. <br />
When the emperor Mansa Musa undertook an extravagant pilgrimage with an entourage of thousands from Timbuktu to Mecca via Cairo in 1324, he transformed European and Arabian perceptions about West Africa. Stopping in Cairo to visit the sultan, Musa gave away so much gold that the Egyptian money market crashed.<br />
Musa built the Great Mosque (Djinguereber) and commissioned the Granada architect Abu Ishaq asSahil to design the Sankore mosque. The Sankore University was established around the mosque. The Great Mosque has been rebuilt many times, but the Sankore mosque still stands, probably because it was built around a wooden framework which aids the repairs necessary after the annual rains. <br />
<a href="http://s1088.photobucket.com/albums/i339/dennis19605/?action=view¤t=untitleddffg.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1088.photobucket.com/albums/i339/dennis19605/untitleddffg.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s1088.photobucket.com/albums/i339/dennis19605/?action=view¤t=Timbuktu_Mosque_Sankore.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1088.photobucket.com/albums/i339/dennis19605/Timbuktu_Mosque_Sankore.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
By the 1450s, the population reached some 100,000, a quarter of these were scholars, many of whom had studied in Egypt or Mecca. The city reached its peak during the Askia period (1403-1591). Merchants from North Africa came to trade salt, cloth and horses for gold and slaves. Leo Africanus, a Muslim from Granada, left a account of his visit in 1526, which renewed European interest in the "city of gold".<br />
In 1591 Morocco captured Timbuktu. In 1593 its scholars were arrested on suspicion of disloyalty, some were killed and others exiled to Morocco. Even more devastating was the inability of the Moroccan troops in control of the city to protect it from repeated attacks by the Bambara, Fulani, and Tuareg. Timbuktu was in decline. <br />
European explorers were still attempting to reach Africa's 'city of gold' but none had survived. In 1788 a group of Englishmen formed the Association for Promoting the Discovery of the Interior Parts of Africa, primarily to discover the source of the Niger and reach Timbuktu. The race was on. <br />
Most famous of the failures was Mungo Park. Robbed, tortured by warlords, and finally drowned when his raft was attacked, he did at least get to the Niger, "glittering to the morning sun, as broad as the Thames at Westminster." <br />
In 1824 the Geographical Society of Paris offered a considerable reward for the first European to visit Timbuktu and return to tell their tale. The Scottish explorer Gordon Laing is acknowledged as the first European to reach Timbuktu, in 1826. He'd survived a savage attack by Tuareg nomads on his journey from Tripoli to Timbuktu, but was murdered two days after leaving the city.<br />
<a href="http://s1088.photobucket.com/albums/i339/dennis19605/?action=view¤t=timbuktu666.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1088.photobucket.com/albums/i339/dennis19605/timbuktu666.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
It was only in 1828 that the first European who lived to tell the tale reached Timbuktu. The French explorer, René-Auguste Caillié disguised himself as an Arab -- he had studied Islam and could speak Arabic. His journey from the coast of West Africa to Timbuktu took him a year (he was ill for five months) but he was so unimpressed he spent only two weeks in the city. His three volumes of his adventures were published in 1830 and received the Geographical Society of Paris' prize. <br />
<br />
Other explorers, such as the German geographer Heinrich Barth who visited the city during his five-year trek across Africa, also found the city an anticlimax. A city of mud-walled buildings in the middle of a harsh desert, not a city of gold. (View some illustration from his book Travels and Discoveries in North and Central Africa.) <br />
<br />
Timbuktu was captured by the French in 1894 who partly restored the city; in 1960 it became part of the independent Republic of Mali. Today Timbuktu is still on the "must-do" list of adventurous travellers, but few have any idea why such a desolate city should be. With the restoration efforts started in the late 1990s to reclaim some of Timbuktu's heritage from the sands of the Sahara, there is hope that this can change.Sawaad Amen Rahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16088798910340182517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11219995.post-37670575036157302392010-08-21T18:46:00.001-05:002010-10-26T18:51:31.705-05:00Why do Black Americans embrace Islam? Part 2<a href="http://s1088.photobucket.com/albums/i339/dennis19605/?action=view¤t=untitledjjjjj.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1088.photobucket.com/albums/i339/dennis19605/untitledjjjjj.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/?action=view¤t=31818_1256219376012_1545444231_3051.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/31818_1256219376012_1545444231_3051.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view¤t=unia2.gif" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/unia2.gif" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
Shem Hotep ("I go in peace").<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s1088.photobucket.com/albums/i339/dennis19605/?action=view¤t=untitled.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1088.photobucket.com/albums/i339/dennis19605/untitled.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
Why do Black Americans embrace Islam?<br />
<a href="http://s1088.photobucket.com/albums/i339/dennis19605/?action=view¤t=arab_slave_trade_thumb3.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1088.photobucket.com/albums/i339/dennis19605/arab_slave_trade_thumb3.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
It was after all,the Muslim Islamic tribes of Africa that sold Black Africans into slavery to begin with.And Muslims still look down upon the black race as inferior. <br />
<br />
The Role of Islam in African Slavery.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s1088.photobucket.com/albums/i339/dennis19605/?action=view¤t=untitledghhhjj.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1088.photobucket.com/albums/i339/dennis19605/untitledghhhjj.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
Part 2 – Using slaves on the African continent.<br />
By Alistair Boddy-Evans.<br />
<br />
The most favored of all Islamic slaves seems to have been the military slave -- although performers were the most privileged. By the ninth century slave armies were in use across the whole of the Islamic Empire. The early slave armies tended to be white, taken from Russia and eastern Europe. However, the first independent Muslim ruler of Egypt relied on black slaves and at his death is said to have left 24,000 (white) Mamaluks and 45,000 Nubian military slaves. In north Africa the source of black slaves from Nubia and Sudan were too convenient to ignore. At the time of the Fatimid defeat, in the twelfth century, black troops formed the majority of the army. By the fifteenth century black military slaves were being favored with the use in battle of firearms (the Mamaluks refused to use such dishonorable weapons). Slave troops in Tunisia in the seventeenth century even included cavalry, and the Sultan of Morocco is recorded as having an army of 250,000 black slaves. <br />
<br />
Even as late as the mid-nineteenth century, Egyptian rulers actively recruited black slaves into their army -- for example, they were included in the Egyptian expeditionary force sent by Sa'id Pasha to Mexico in support of the French in 1863. <br />
The transatlantic slave trade sent Arab slavers into overdrive, here was a new market which could be exploited. When the Europeans abolished slavery in the 1800's, the taking of slaves in Africa continued. The eradication of such practices was cited as a major justification by the Europeans for the colonization of Africa. Certainly Britain had a significant fleet of ships patrolling the coasts against such slave traders. <br />
<br />
Encyclopaedia Britannia's Historical Survey of Slavery1 points out that "The European colonization movement of the second half of the 19th century put an end to slavery in many parts of Africa..." and that "the British turned their attention back to Africa. They moved onto the continent, took control of those governments that were thriving on slavery, and attempted to abolish the institution." Further "in the 1870's British missionaries moved into Malawi, the place of origin of the Indian Ocean Islamic slave trade, in an attempt to interdict it at its source... In Dahomey the French abolition of slavery resulted in the cessation of ceremonial human sacrifice."<br />
<br />
Unfortunately this was not enough for "some parts of Africa and much of the Islamic world retained slavery at the end of World War I. For this reason the League of Nations and later the United Nations took the final extinction of slavery to be one of their obligations. The League had considerable success in Africa, with the assistance of the colonial powers and by the late 1930's slavery was abolished in Liberia and Ethiopia". The problem was such that "After World War II the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights ... proclaimed the immorality and the illegality of slavery. Slavery was abolished in most Islamic countries, although it persisted in Saudi Arabia into the 1960's. It finally was made illegal in the Arabian Peninsula in 1962."Sawaad Amen Rahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16088798910340182517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11219995.post-84223770625924565952010-08-14T17:54:00.002-05:002010-10-26T18:44:27.158-05:00Why do Black Americans embrace Islam? Part 1<a href="http://s1088.photobucket.com/albums/i339/dennis19605/?action=view¤t=2472693162_216eea75a5.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1088.photobucket.com/albums/i339/dennis19605/2472693162_216eea75a5.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/?action=view¤t=31818_1256219376012_1545444231_3051.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/31818_1256219376012_1545444231_3051.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view¤t=unia2.gif" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/unia2.gif" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
Shem Hotep ("I go in peace").<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s1088.photobucket.com/albums/i339/dennis19605/?action=view¤t=047w.gif" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1088.photobucket.com/albums/i339/dennis19605/047w.gif" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
Why do Black Americans embrace Islam?<br />
<a href="http://s1088.photobucket.com/albums/i339/dennis19605/?action=view¤t=arab_slave_trade_thumb3.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1088.photobucket.com/albums/i339/dennis19605/arab_slave_trade_thumb3.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
It was after all,the Muslim Islamic tribes of Africa that sold Black Africans into slavery to begin with.And Muslims still look down upon the black race as inferior. <br />
<br />
The Role of Islam in African Slavery.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s1088.photobucket.com/albums/i339/dennis19605/?action=view¤t=untitledghhhjj.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1088.photobucket.com/albums/i339/dennis19605/untitledghhhjj.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
Part 1 – Obtaining slaves on the African continent<br />
By Alistair Boddy-Evans, <br />
<br />
Slavery has been rife throughout all of ancient history. Most, if not all, ancient civilizations practiced this institution and it is described (and defended) in early writings of the Sumerians, Babylonians, and Egyptians. It was also practiced by early societies in central America and Africa. (See Bernard Lewis's work Race and Slavery in the Middle East1 for a detailed chapter of the origins and practices of slavery.)<br />
The Qur'an prescribes a humanitarian approach to slavery -- free men could not be enslaved, and those faithful to foreign religions could live as protected persons, dhimmis, under Muslim rule (as long as they maintained payment of taxes called Kharaj and Jizya). However, the spread of the Islamic Empire resulted in a much harsher interpretation of the law. For example, if a dhimmis was unable to pay the taxes they could be enslaved, and people from outside the borders of the Islamic Empire were considered an acceptable source of slaves. <br />
<a href="http://s1088.photobucket.com/albums/i339/dennis19605/?action=view¤t=SlaveryTable002.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1088.photobucket.com/albums/i339/dennis19605/SlaveryTable002.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
Although the law required owners to treat slaves well and provide medical treatment, a slave had no right to be heard in court (testimony was forbidden by slaves), had no right to property, could marry only with permission of their owner, and was considered to be a chattel, that is the (moveable) property, of the slave owner. Conversion to Islam did not automatically give a slave freedom nor did it confer freedom to their children. Whilst highly educated slaves and those in the military did win their freedom, those used for basic duties rarely achieved freedom. In addition, the recorded mortality rate was high -- this was still significant even as late as the nineteenth century and was remarked upon by western travelers in North Africa and Egypt. <br />
<br />
Slaves were obtained through conquest, tribute from vassal states (in the first such treaty, Nubia was required to provide hundreds of male and female slaves), offspring (children of slaves were also slaves, but since many slaves were castrated this was not as common as it had been in the Roman empire), and purchase. The latter method provided the majority of slaves, and at the borders of the Islamic Empire vast number of new slaves were castrated ready for sale (Islamic law did not allow mutilation of slaves, so it was done before they crossed the border). The majority of these slaves came from Europe and Africa -- there were always enterprising locals ready to kidnap or capture their fellow countrymen. <br />
Black Africans were transported to the Islamic empire across the Sahara to Morocco and Tunisia from West Africa, from Chad to Libya, along the Nile from East Africa, and up the coast of East Africa to the Persian Gulf. This trade had been well entrenched for over 600 years before Europeans arrived, and had driven the rapid expansion of Islam across North Africa.<br />
<a href="http://s1088.photobucket.com/albums/i339/dennis19605/?action=view¤t=untitledghh.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1088.photobucket.com/albums/i339/dennis19605/untitledghh.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
By the time of the Ottoman Empire, the majority of slaves were obtained by raiding in Africa. Russian expansion had put an end to the source of "exceptionally beautiful" female and "brave" male slaves from the Caucasians -- the women were highly prised in the harem, the men in the military. The great trade networks across north Africa were as much to do with the safe transportation of slaves as other goods. An analysis of prices at various slave markets shows that eunuchs fetched higher prices than other males, encouraging the castration of slaves before export. <br />
Documentation suggests that slaves throughout Islamic world were mainly used for menial domestic and commercial purposes. Eunuchs were especially prised for bodyguards and confidential servants; women as concubines and menials. A Muslim slave owner was entitled by law to use slaves for sexual pleasure. <br />
As primary source material becomes available to Western scholars, the bias towards urban slaves is being questioned. Records also show that thousands of slaves were used in gangs for agriculture and mining. Large landowners and rulers used thousands of such slaves, usually in dire conditions: "of the Saharan salt mines it is said that no slave lived there for more than five years.Sawaad Amen Rahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16088798910340182517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11219995.post-52933937640620069342010-08-07T11:27:00.001-05:002010-10-03T11:30:57.248-05:00Lies My Teacher Told Me:<a href="http://s1183.photobucket.com/albums/x474/dennis7898/?action=view¤t=thumbnailCAPZEH9S.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1183.photobucket.com/albums/x474/dennis7898/thumbnailCAPZEH9S.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/?action=view¤t=31818_1256219376012_1545444231_3051.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/31818_1256219376012_1545444231_3051.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view¤t=unia2.gif" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/unia2.gif" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
Shem Hotep ("I go in peace").<br />
<a href="http://s1183.photobucket.com/albums/x474/dennis7898/?action=view¤t=thumbnail.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1183.photobucket.com/albums/x474/dennis7898/thumbnail.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
Lies My Teacher Told Me: <br />
Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong.<br />
<a href="http://s1183.photobucket.com/albums/x474/dennis7898/?action=view¤t=thumbnailCAE0COWW.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1183.photobucket.com/albums/x474/dennis7898/thumbnailCAE0COWW.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
Lies My Teacher Told Me: <br />
Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong <br />
by James W. Loewen. Simon & Schuster. <br />
Note: The following are notes from the above book. I found the book seminal, eye-opening, life-changing. I recommend that you buy and read the entire book. Only by reading the entire book will you get the whole picture. The following quotes, I hope, will whet your appetite. --Colby Glass <br />
<br />
"..the teaching of history, more than any other discipline, is dominated by textbooks... the books are boring... [they] exclude conflict or real suspense. They leave out anything that might reflect badly upon our national character" (13). <br />
<br />
<br />
Helen Keller<br />
"Keller.. never wavered in her belief that our society needed radical change.. she helped found the American Civil Liberties Union to fight for the free speech of others. She sent $100 to the NAACP with a letter of support... She supported Eugene V. Debs, the Socialist candidate, in each of his campaigns for the presidency.. <br />
"One may not agree with Helen Keller's positions. her praise of the USSR now seems naive, embarrasing, to some even treasonous. But she was a radical--a fact few Americans know.." (22). <br />
<br />
<br />
Woodrow Wilson<br />
".. two antidemocratic policies that Wilson carried out: his racial segregation of the federal government and his military interventions in foreign countries" (23). <br />
"Under Wilson, the United States intervened in Latin America more often than at any other time in our history.. In 1917 Woodrow Wilson.. started sending secret monetary aid to the "White" side of the Russian civil war... This aggression fueled the suspicions that motivated the Soviets during the Cold War..." (23-4). <br />
"..Wilson's interventions in Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Nicaragua set the stage for the dictators Batista, Trujillo, the Duvaliers, and the Somozas.." (24). <br />
"He was an outspoken white supremacist--his wife was even worse--and told "darky" stories in cabinet meetings" (27). <br />
"Spurred by Birth of a Nation, William Simmons of Georgia reestablished the Ku Klux Klan. The racism seeping down from the White House encouraged this klan.." (28). <br />
"Wilson was not only antiblack; he was also far and away our most nativist president, repeatedly questioning the loyalty of those he called "hyphenated Americans"" (29). <br />
"To oppose America's participation in World War I, or even to be pessimistic about it, was dangerous. The Creel Committee... After World War I, the Wilson administration's attacks on civil liberties increased, now with anticommunism as the excuse. Neither before nor since these campaigns has the United States come closer to being a police state" (30). <br />
"Because heroification prevents textbooks from showing Wilson's shortcomings, textbooks are hard pressed to explain the results of the 1920 election. James Cox, the Democratic candidate who was Wilson's would-be successor, was crushed by the nonentity Warren G. Harding, who never even campaigned. [It was] the biggest landslide in the history of American presidential politics" (31). <br />
<br />
<br />
"Could it be that we don't want to think badly <br />
of Woodrow Wilson... We don't want complicated icons. <br />
"People do not like to think. If one thinks, one must <br />
reach conclusions," Helen Keller pointed out. <br />
"Conclusions are not always pleasant"" (35).<br />
Christopher Columbus<br />
Columbus discovered America and proved that the earth was not flat... Right? <br />
We tend to "underplay previous explorers" (39). There were probably 15 or more individuals and groups that "discovered" and settled America before Columbus. <br />
"Even if Columbus had never sailed, other Europeans would have soon reached the Americas... Columbus's voyage.. was epoch-making because of the way in which Europe responded" (39). <br />
"The changes in Europe not only prompted Columbus's voyage.. they also paved the way for Europe's domination of the world for the next five hundred years. Except for the invention of agriculture, this was probably the most consequential development in human history" (41-2). <br />
"..new and more deadly forms of smallpox and bubonic plague had arisen in Europe.. Passed on to those the Europeans met, these diseases helped Europe conquer the Americas and, later, the islands of the Pacific" (44). <br />
"Columbus claimed everything he saw right off the boat. When textbooks celebrate this process, they imply that taking the land and dominating the indians was inevitable if not natural" (44). <br />
"Most important, [Columbus's] prupose from the beginning was not mere exploration or even trade, but conquest and exploitation, for which he used religion as a rationale. If textbooks included these facts, they might induce students to think intelligently about why the West dominates the world today" (45). <br />
Washington Irving created the lie that people thought the earth was flat until Columbus proved that it was round (57). <br />
What is the real significance of Columbus's reaching the Americas? What made his trip different than the fifteen discoverers who preceded him? <br />
"Christopher Columbus introduced two phenomena that revolutionized race relations and transformed the modern world: the taking of land, wealth, and labor from indigenous peoples, leading to their near extermination, and the transatlantic slave trade, which created a racial underclass" (60). <br />
"When Columbus and his men returned to Haiti in 1493, they demanded food, gold, spun cotton--whatever the Indians had that they wanted, including sex with their women. To ensure cooperation, Columbus used punishment by example. When an Indian committed even a minor offense, the Spanish cut off his ears or nose" (61). <br />
"..attempts at resistance gave Columbus an excuse to make war... For this he chose 200 foot soldiers and 20 cavalry, with many crossbows and small cannon, lances, and swords, and a still more terrible weapon against the Indians, in addition to the horses: this was 20 hunting dogs, who were turned loose and immediately tore the Indians apart" (61). <br />
"Columbus.. initiated a great slave raid. They rounded up 1,500 Arawaks, then selected the 500 best specimines (of whom 200 would die en route to Spain. Another 500 were chosen as slaves for the Spaniards staying on the island" (62). <br />
"Spaniards hunted Indians for sport and murdered them for dog food. Columbus, upset because he could not locate the gold he was certain was on the island, set up a tribute system... The Indians all promised to pay tribute.. every three months... With a fresh token, an Indian was safe for three months, much of which time would be devoted to collecting more gold... the Spanish punished those whose tokens had expired: they cut off their hands" (62). <br />
"Columbus installed the encomienda system, in which he granted or "commended" entire Indian villages to individual colonists or groups of colonists... On Haiti the colonists made the Indians mine gold for them, raise Spanish food, and even carry them everywhere they went" (63). An Spanish observer wrote that "As a result of the sufferings and hard labor they endured [under this virtual slavery], the Indians choose and have chosen suicide. Occasionally a hundred have committed mass suicide. The women, exhausted by labor, have shunned conception and childbirth... Many, when pregnant, have taken something to abort and have aborted. Others after delivery have killed their children with their own hands, so as not to leave them in such oppressive slavery"" (63). <br />
"Estimates of Haiti's pre-Columbian population range as high as 8,000,000 people... a census of Indian adults in 1496.. came up with 1,100,000... "By 1516," according to Benjamin Keen, "thanks to the sinister Indian slave trade and labor policies initiated by Columbus, only some 12,000 remained." Las Casas tells us that fewer than 200 Indians were alive in 1542. By 1555, they were all gone" (63). <br />
".. one of the primary instances of genocide in all human history" (64). <br />
"Columbus not only sent the first slaves across the Atlantic, he probably sent more slaves--about five thousand--than any other individual... other nations rushed to emulate Columbus" (64). <br />
"As soon as the 1493 expedition got to the Caribbean, before it even reached Haiti, Columbus was rewarding his lieutenants with native women to rape. On Haiti, sex slaves were one more perquisite that the Spaniards enjoyed. Columbus wrote a friend in 1500, "... it is very general and there are plenty of dealers who go about looking for girls; those from nine to ten are now in demand"" (65). <br />
"Columbus is not a hero in Mexico... Why not? Because Mexico is also much more Indian than the United States, and Mexicans perceive Columbus as white and European. "No sensible Indian person," wrote George P. Horse Capture, "can celebrate the arrival of Columbus." Cherishing Columbus is a characteristic of white history, not American history" (70). <br />
"The worshipful biographical vignettes of Columbus in our textbooks serve to indoctrinate students into a mindless endorsement of colonialism... the Columbus myth allows us to accept the contemporary division of the world into developed and underdeveloped spheres as natural and given, rather than a historical product issuing from a process that began with Columbus's first voyage" (70). <br />
<br />
Thanksgiving<br />
The Thanksgiving myth is that the Pilgrims settled the United States in 1620. They had to fight off indians repeatedly. <br />
"Few Americans know that one-third of the United States, from San Francisco to Arkansas to Natchez to Florida, has been Spanish longer than it has been "American," and that Hispanic Americans lived here before the first ancestor of the Daughters of the American Revolution ever left England" (77). British and French fisherman, landing in Massachusetts for fresh water and supplies in 1617, brought the plague to the American indians. "Within three years the plague wiped out between 90 percent and 96 percent of the inhabitants of coastal New England... Unable to cope with so many corpses, the survivors abandoned their villages" (81). <br />
What the Pilgrims found were settled farms, with the crops already planted and growing, deserted by Indians fleeing the plague. The Pilgrims "found it easy to infer that God was on their side. John Winthrop, governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, called the plague "Miraculous"" (81). <br />
"These epidemcs probably constituted the most important geopolitical event of the early seventeenth century. Their net result was that the British, for their first fifty years in New England, would face no real Indian challenge" (81). <br />
The plagues "continued west, racing in advance of the line of culture contact... Disease played the same crucial role in Mexico and Peru as it did in Massachusetts... When the Spanish marched into Tenochtitlan [now Mexico City], there were so many bodies [dead from the plague] that they had to walk on them" (82-3). <br />
"..the population of the Americas [was] one hundred million in 1492.. Europe had only about seventy million people when Columbus set forth. The Europeans' advantages in military and social technology might have enabled them to dominate the Americas.. but not to "settle" the hemisphere. For that, the plague was required" (83). <br />
".. the land was, in reality, not a virgin wilderness, but recently widowed" (84). <br />
We also tend, in favor of the Pilgrims, to ignore Jamestown which was settled first. "Historians could hardly tout Virginia... The Virginians' relations with the Indians were particularly unsavory...the early Virginians engaged in bickering, sloth, even cannibalism. They spent their early days digging random holes in the ground, haplessly looking for gold instead of planting crops. Soon they were starving and digging up putrid Indian corpses to eat or renting themselves out to Indian families as servants" (89-90). <br />
"..the Pilgrims hardly "started from scratch" in a "wilderness." Throughout southern New England, Native Americans had repeatedly burned the underbrush, creating a parklike environment... They chose Plymouth because of its beautiful cleared fields, recently planted in corn, and its useful harbor and "brook of fresh water." It was a lovely site for a town. Indeed, until the plaque, it had been a town.." (90). One of the first things the Pilgrims did was go through the town, looting the possessions of the Indians. "..the Pilgrims continued to rob graves for years" (91). <br />
"More than any other celebration.. Thanksgiving celebrates our ethnocentrism... God on our side, civilization wrested from wilderness, order from disorder, through hard work and good Pilgrim character traits" (93). <br />
<br />
Native Americans<br />
"Historically, American Indians have been the most lied-about subset of our population" (99). <br />
Did Europeans "civilize" the Americas? Actually, anthropologists tell us that "hunters and gatherers were relatively peaceful, compared to agriculturalists, and that modern societies were more warlike still. Thus violence increases with civilization" (101-2). <br />
"..textbooks cannot resist contrasting "primitive" Americans with modern Europeans" (102). <br />
"In what ways do we prefer the civilized Third Reich to the more primitive Arawak nation that Columbus encountered? If we refuse to label the Third Reich civilized, are we not using the term to imply a certain comity? If so, we must consider the Arawaks civilized, and we must also consider Columbus and his Spaniards primitive is not savage" (102). <br />
"Europeans persuaded Natives to specialize in the fur and slave trades. Native Americans were better hunters and trappers than Europeans, and with the guns the Europeans sold them, they became better still. Other Native skills began to atrophy" (103). <br />
"..because whites "demanded institutions reflective of their own with which to relate," many Native groups strengthened their tribal governments... New confederations and nations developed.. The tribes also became more male- dominated, in imitation of Europeans.. [there was] an escalation of Indian warfare... [the slave trade helped] to deagriculturize Native Americans. To avoid being targets for capture, Indians abandoned their cornfields and their villages" (105-6). <br />
"Europeans did not "civilize" or "settle" roaming Indians, but had the opposite impact" (107). <br />
"..from the start in Virginia.. settlers fled to Indian villages rather than endure the rigors of life among the autocratic English. Indeed, many white and black newcomers chose to live an Indian lifestyle... some Natives chose to live among whites.. The migration was mostly the other way, however.. Europeans were always trying to stop the outflow. Hernando De Soto had to post guards to keep his men and women from defecting to Native societies... right up to the end of independent Indian nationahood in 1890, whites continued to defect, and whites who lived an Indian lifestyle, such as Daniel Boone, became cultural heroes in white society" (109). <br />
"Not one American history textbook mentions the attraction of Native societies to European Americans and African Americans" (109). <br />
"According to Benjamin Franklin, "All their government is by Counsel of the Sages. There is no Force; there are no Prisons, no officers to compel Obedience, or inflict Punishment." Probably foremost, the lack of hierarchy in the Native socieites in the eastern United States attracted the admiration of European observers. Frontiersmen were taken with the extent to which Native Americans enjoyed freedom as individuals. Women were also accorded more status and power.. than in white societies of the time" (109-110). <br />
Lt. Gov. Cadwallader Colden of New York in 1727 said, "Here we see the natural Origin of all Power and Authority among a free People" (110). <br />
<br />
<br />
"After Col. Henry Bouquet defeated the Ohio Indians at Bushy Run in 1763, he demanded the release of all white captives. Most of them, especially the children, had to be "bound hand and foot" and forcibly returned to white society" (110).<br />
"Indeed, Native American ideas may be partly responsible for our democratic institutions. We have seen how Native ideas of liberty, fraternity, and equality found their way to Europe to influence social philosophers such as Thomas More, Locke, Montaigne, Montesquieu, and Rousseau... Through 150 years of colonial contact, the Iroquois League stood before the colonies as an object lesson in how to govern a large domain democratically" (111). <br />
"Both the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention referred openly to Iroquois ideas and imagery... As a symbol of the new United States, Americans chose the eagle clutching a bundle of arrows. They knew that both the eagle and the arrows were symbols of the Iroquois League... John Mohawk has argued that American Indians are directly or indirectly responsible for the public-meeting tradition, free speech, democracy, and "all those things which got attached to the Bill of Rights." Without the Native example, "do you really believe that all those ideas would have found birth among a people who had spent a millennium butchering other people because of intolerance of questions of religion?"" (111-112). <br />
"For a hundred years after our Revolution, Americans credited Native Americans as a source of their democratic institutions... When colonists took action to oppose unjust authority, as in the Boston Tea Party.. they chose to dress as Indians, not to blame Indians for the demonstrations but to appropriate a symbol identified with liberty" (112). <br />
"Indian warfare absorbed 80 percent of the entire federal budget during George Washington's administration and dogged his successors for a century as a major issue and expense... [in many cases] the settlers were Native American, the scalpers white" (116). <br />
"All the textbooks tell how Jefferson "doubled the size of the United States by buying Louisiana from France." Not one points out that it was not France's land to sell--it was Indian land... Indeed, France did not really sell Louisiana for $15,000,000. France merely sold its claim to the territory... Equally Eurocentric are the maps textbooks use to show the Lewis and Clark expedition. They make Native American invisible, implying that the United States bought vacant land from the French... [Textbooks imply that the Indians were naive about land ownership, but] the problem lay in whites' not abiding by accepted concepts of land ownership" (123). <br />
"The most important cause of the War of 1812.. was land-- Indian land... The United States fought five of the seven major land battles of the War of 1812 primarily against Native Americans... [a] result of the War of 1812 was the loss of part of our history. A century of learning [from Native Americans] was coming to a close... until 1815 the word Americans had generally been used to refer to Native Americans; after 1815 it meant European Americans... Carleton Beals has written that "our acquiescence in Indian dispossession has molded the American character." ... destroyed our national idealism. From 1815 on, instead of spreading democracy, we exported the ideology of white supremacy. Gradually we sought American hegemony over Mexico, the Philippines, much of the Caribbean basin, and, indirectly, over other nations... We also have to admit that Adolf Hitler displayed more knowledge of how we treated Native Americans than American high schoolers who rely on their textbooks. Hitler admired our concentration camps for Indians in the west "and often praised to his inner circle the efficiency of America's extermination--by starvation and uneven combat" as the model for his extermination of Jews and Gypsies" (123-126). <br />
Yet we "still stereotype Native Americans as roaming primitive hunting folk, unfortunate victims of progress" (132). <br />
For more on this topic, read Helen Hunt Jackson's famous indictment of Native American policies, A Century of Dishonor. <br />
Also, see her fictional account of the racism Mexicans and Indians both endured at the hands of White and Mexican settlers, Ramona. <br />
<br />
Invisibility of Racism <br />
"Americans seem perpetually startled at slavery. Children are shocked to learn that George Washington and Thomas Jefferson owned slaves... Very few adults today realize that our society has been slave much longer than it has been free.. The first colony to legalize slavery was not Virginia but Massachusetts.. Wall Street was the marketplace where owners could hire out their slaves by the day or week" (142). <br />
"Textbooks canonize Patrick Henry for his "Give me liberty or give me death" speech. Not one tells us that eight months after delivering the speech he ordered "diligent patrols" to keep Virginia slaves from accepting the British offer of freedom to those who would join their side" (146). <br />
"..slavery and its concomitant ideas, which legitimated hierarchy and dominance, saped our Revolutionary idealism. Most textbooks never hint at this clash of ideas, let alone at its impact on our foreign policy" (149). <br />
"For our first seventy years as a nation.. slavery made our foreign policy more sympathetic with imperialism than with self-determination" (152). <br />
"Slavery was also perhaps the key factor in the Texas War (1835-36). The freedom for which Davy Crockett, James Bowie, and the rest fought for at the Alamo was the freedom to own slaves!" (151). <br />
Racism became dominant in the United States between 1890 and 1920 "when African Americans were again put back into second-class citizenship... In the 1880s and 1890s minstrel shows featuring bumbling, mislocuting whites in blackface grew wildly popular from New England to California. By presenting heavily caricatured images of African Americans who were happy on the plantation and lost and incompetent off it, these shows demeaned black ability" (160-164). <br />
"In politics, the white electorate had become so racist by 1892 that the Democratic candidate, Grover Cleveland, won the White House partly by tarring Republicans with their attempts to guarantee civil rights to African Americans" (164). <br />
"Aided by Birth of a Nation, which opened in 1915, the Ku Klux Klan rose to its zenith, boasting over a million members. The KKK openly dominated the state government of Indiana for a time, and it proudly inducted Pres. Warren G. Harding as a member in a White House ceremony... the 1921 riot in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in which whites dropped dynamite from an airplane onto a black ghetto, killing more than 75 people and destroying more than 1,100 homes.. Some small communities in the Midwest and West became "sundown" towns, informally threatening African Americans with death if they remained overnight" (165). [I got an email from Rachel Chinnock, who wished to clarify the facts about the Tulsa riots. Here is what she said: "I lived in Tulsa and did a bit of research on this tragic event and wish to make only one correction to your current text. The area upon which white supremacists and KKK members dropped dynamite was not a “black ghetto” but rather one of the most sophisticated black areas at that time (and, arguably, the most sophisticated community in the state of Oklahoma at that time) known as “Black Wall Street” or now the “Greenwood District.” Here, they were well-dressed, highly-educated, wealthy, and mannerly. Business flourished, with black-owned stores, cinemas, pharmacies, airport, banks, libraries, schools, etc."] <br />
"..race relations in the United States systematically worsened for almost half a century." Most textbooks state that "Jackie Robinson was "the first black baseball player ever allowed in the major leagues."" But he wasn't. Students are given "the unmistakable [impression] of generally uninterrupted progress to the present" (167). <br />
"The notion of progress suffuses textbook treatments of black-white relations, implying that race relations have somehow steadily improved on their own. This cheery optimism only compounds the problem, because whites can infer that racism is over" (169).Sawaad Amen Rahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16088798910340182517noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11219995.post-19616307406410225132010-07-30T11:05:00.000-05:002010-10-03T11:05:42.565-05:00Do You Have A “Slave” Mentality? 8 Reasons Why You Might.<a href="http://s1183.photobucket.com/albums/x474/dennis7898/?action=view¤t=thumbnailCAV2P7HC.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1183.photobucket.com/albums/x474/dennis7898/thumbnailCAV2P7HC.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/?action=view¤t=31818_1256219376012_1545444231_3051.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/31818_1256219376012_1545444231_3051.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view¤t=unia2.gif" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/unia2.gif" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
Shem Hotep ("I go in peace").<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s1183.photobucket.com/albums/x474/dennis7898/?action=view¤t=thumb.png" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1183.photobucket.com/albums/x474/dennis7898/thumb.png" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
Do You Have A “Slave” Mentality? 8 Reasons Why You Might.<br />
<br />
If this doesn’t not apply to you then don’t get your boy shorts, thongs, boxers or briefs in a tiffy. This is just an analysis that I have come to from various courses , and life experience in general. This does not apply to all Black people but it definitely explains some behaviors of ours in my opinion. Feel free to add on. <br />
1. Competitive Nature<br />
Competitive among one another, also known as crabs in a barrel complex. Often when people of color see another person of color doing well, instead of us congratulating him we hate, or become envious. We become insulted that they may have or appear to be surpassing us and want to knock them off their hustle. This is a direct result of us being paired against each other during slavery. <br />
2. The whole light skin vs. dark skin crap<br />
This one should be the most obvious. It has been well documented that fairer skin Blacks were favored over those with darker complexions. This same ideology is sometimes exercised in today’s society. Those with lighter complexions are often saw as being safer, less threatening, more attractive, more intelligent. Simply because their complexion is closer to that of a Caucasian. <br />
<a href="http://s1183.photobucket.com/albums/x474/dennis7898/?action=view¤t=39279_1399781161133_1430412373_30853548_7493474_n.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1183.photobucket.com/albums/x474/dennis7898/39279_1399781161133_1430412373_30853548_7493474_n.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
3. Non- attachment to kids<br />
During slavery kids were taken away not long after birth. This meant that Black women were unable to build a bond with their child. They had to learn to be cold to their children in some regard because there always was that chance that the child would be taken away or killed. Either way the chances that a Mother would never see her child again were high. I see that this has affected some Black women to this day because on some level, they can demonstrate a coldness to their children. Almost as if the child is a burden or a bother that they themselves should not be required to handle. Slavery, to me, created this distance that some Black mothers have with their children. <br />
4. Complexities in Black love<br />
Black men and women were not allowed to marry. In fact we often had to hide the fact that we were dating one another and if we dared marry someone we had to do the jump the broom ceremony which was not legally binding. So in essence our marriage was not seen as legal as well. In doing this they ripped black men from the home and never allowed them to see themselves as MEN. They were constantly referred to as “boy” and other derogatory terms. After hearing this for centuries, one starts to identify themselves with those negative terms. So some are forever trapped in this boy like stage and never want to grow. Some are unable to handle responsibilities of an adult nature and feel that they should never have to no matter their age. This separation also caused more tension between Black men and women. How are we suppose to know how to truly love one another if for years it was punishable by death if we acknowledged the other sex unless it was for breeding purposes?<br />
5. Black men spreading their seeds<br />
Because Black men were seen as breeders, they were the instructed to have sex with other slave women who they may not have necessarily had or wanted a relationship with them in order to produce more children which would be mean more slaves. The slave owners wanted the Black men to be whores. They taught them how to be whores. This idea of spreading yourself with various women and making babies with various women is still present today. Sure we do not have someone forcing us to do it but the urge is still there. This is why the capacity for a man to go from woman to woman and make babies with each of them is not a foreign idea. In fact it is much more accepted because it Is what Black men were trained to do. <br />
When Friends Grow Apart<br />
6. Eating that fat s**t <br />
I myself love sweet potatoes and greens, and can even get with chitterlings from time to time. I love soul food. But let’s face it. There are certain soul food menu items that are unhealthy and not meant to be ate as often as we do. Eating these foods daily during slavery were out of necessity for survival as we were only given the scraps and less desirable portions of meats and foods. However, constant consumption of these foods also led to our high blood pressure, diabetes also known as ‘the sugars”, heart issues, and a tendency to be overweight. I am not suggesting that we should not eat the foods at all, but the constant consumption of these foods is what leads to many of our health issues. Some soul food items are fatty, too salty, and loaded with other undesirables that were not meant to be consumed daily.<br />
<a href="http://s1183.photobucket.com/albums/x474/dennis7898/?action=view¤t=thumbnailCAQV924R.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1183.photobucket.com/albums/x474/dennis7898/thumbnailCAQV924R.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
7. White women on a pedestal<br />
“Mirror mirror on the wall.. Who is the fairest of them all? Why…You are White woman.” During slavery White women were seen as goddesses and obviously highly favored over Black women in every way. They were the fairest of them all and not to be attained by a lowly Black man. What is withheld from a person for so long often becomes the object of their obsession. I’m not saying that all Black men are obsessed with White women or anything dramatic of that nature. I am saying that there is a direct correlation as to why SOME not all Black men feel that they have struck gold once they have a White woman on their arms. Some use this as a tool to stroke their egos and offer themselves self worth. Finally they can have something that for years they were not allowed to even stare at for too long nonetheless have sex with and make babies.<br />
8. No we don’t want to work <br />
Since slavery many Blacks have been forced to work for Whites for survival reasons or out of necessity. Some are able to adjust while others have an inherent desire to do whatever it takes to scheme, plot and manipulate the system for however long in order to receive free money and never truly have to work a job. There is a deep resentment towards having to work for “Whitey” by Blacks because we feel as though we have been doing that since the beginning of time by force.Sawaad Amen Rahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16088798910340182517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11219995.post-66879263487041782842010-07-22T10:49:00.000-05:002010-10-03T10:58:20.573-05:0011 COMPANIES THAT SURPRISINGLY COLLABORATED WITH THE NAZIS<a href="http://s1183.photobucket.com/albums/x474/dennis7898/?action=view¤t=thumbnailkl.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1183.photobucket.com/albums/x474/dennis7898/thumbnailkl.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/?action=view¤t=31818_1256219376012_1545444231_3051.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/31818_1256219376012_1545444231_3051.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view¤t=unia2.gif" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/unia2.gif" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
Shem Hotep ("I go in peace").<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s1183.photobucket.com/albums/x474/dennis7898/?action=view¤t=61875_1399740360113_1430412373_30853366_3299373_a.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1183.photobucket.com/albums/x474/dennis7898/61875_1399740360113_1430412373_30853366_3299373_a.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
11 COMPANIES THAT SURPRISINGLY COLLABORATED WITH THE NAZIS.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s1183.photobucket.com/albums/x474/dennis7898/?action=view¤t=34437_1399743800199_1430412373_30853370_5054005_n.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1183.photobucket.com/albums/x474/dennis7898/34437_1399743800199_1430412373_30853370_5054005_n.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
I saw this article today; it's about a controversy over the German insurance company Allianz buying the naming rights to the new New York Giants and Jets football stadium.<br />
<br />
That's controversial because Allianz has very famous Nazi ties -- they insured Auschwitz, their CEO was one of Hitler's advisers, and, during the Holocaust, instead of paying life insurance benefits to Jews, they sent that money straight to the Nazis.<br />
<br />
Jewish groups don't want Allianz getting the naming rights to the new Meadowlands. Abe Foxman, the head of the Anti-Defanation League, says, quote, "It would be an insult. It's putting their name in lights for generations to come."<br />
<br />
Since World War Two ended, Allianz has officially apologized for its role in the Holocaust and has paid several million dollars in restitution. Which brings me to a larger point here: At what point should we say to Nazi collaborating companies, "OK. You've apologized, you've paid, none of your current employees worked with the Nazis, it's time to move on"?<br />
<br />
Because there are a TON of companies that worked with the Nazis. Way more than the Allianz and the other 11 I'm about to talk about here. They've all apologized. A lot have paid restitution. Two generations have passed.<br />
<br />
I won't comment on whether I think people should forgive them... boycott them... continue to patronize them, but begrudgingly... or continue to patronize them with statements like, "Wow, Allianz, your insurance is SO good, we're SO impressed with what you're doing. And if it wasn't for the 800 other, better insurance companies out there, we'd TOTALLY sign up with you."<br />
<br />
That's up to you. I'm just puttin' the information out there. Here are 11 companies that you may not realize collaborated with the Nazis.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s1183.photobucket.com/albums/x474/dennis7898/?action=view¤t=37130_1399745280236_1430412373_30853381_7288786_n.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1183.photobucket.com/albums/x474/dennis7898/37130_1399745280236_1430412373_30853381_7288786_n.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
1. The 12 Nazi collaborating companies featured in this article.<br />
Kodak. During World War Two, Kodak's German branch used slave laborers from concentration camps. Several of their other European branches did heavy business with the Nazi government. <br />
<br />
And Wilhelm Keppler, one of Hitler's top economic advisers, had deep ties in Kodak. When Nazism began, Keppler advised Kodak and several other U.S. companies that they'd benefit by firing all of their Jewish employees. (Source: The Nation) <br />
<br />
2. Hugo Boss. In the 1930s, Hugo Boss started making Nazi uniforms. The reason: Hugo Boss himself had joined the Nazi party, and got a contract to make the Hitler Youth, storm trooper and SS uniforms. <br />
<br />
That was a huge boon for Hugo Boss... he got the contract just eight years after founding his company... and that infusion of business helped take the company to another level. <br />
<br />
The Nazi uniform manufacturing went so well that Hugo Boss ended up needing to bring in slave laborers in Poland and France to help out at the factory. <br />
<br />
In 1997, Hugo's son, Siegfried Boss, told an Austrian news magazine, "Of course my father belonged to the Nazi party. But who didn't belong back then?" (Source: New York Times) <br />
<br />
3. Volkswagen. Ferdinand Porsche, the man behind Volkswagen and Porsche, met with Hitler in 1934, to discuss the creation of a "people's car." (That's the English translation of Volkswagen.) <br />
<br />
Hitler told Porsche to make the car with a streamlined shape, "like a beetle." And that's the genesis of the Volkswagen Beetle... it wasn't just designed for the Nazis, Hitler NAMED it. <br />
<br />
During World War Two, it's believed that as many as four out of every five workers at Volkswagen's plants were slave laborers. Ferdinand Porsche even had a direct connection to Heinrich Himmler, one of the leaders of the SS, to directly request slaves from Auschwitz. (Source: The Straight Dope) <br />
<br />
4. Bayer. During the Holocaust, a German company called IG Farben manufactured the Zyklon B gas used in the Nazi gas chambers. They also funded and helped with Josef Mengele's "experiments" on concentration camp prisoners. <br />
<br />
IG Farben is the company that turned the single largest profit from work with the Nazis. After the War, the company was broken up. Bayer was one of its divisions, and went on to become its own company. <br />
<br />
Oh... and aspirin was founded by a Bayer employee, Arthur Eichengrun. But Eichengrun was Jewish, and Bayer didn't want to admit that a Jewish guy created the one product that keeps their company in business. So, to this day, Bayer officially gives credit to Felix Hoffman, a nice Aryan man, for inventing aspirin. (Source: Alliance for Human Research Protection, Pharmaceutical Achievers) <br />
<br />
5. Siemens. Siemens took slave laborers during the Holocaust and had them help construct the gas chambers that would kill them and their families. Good people over there. <br />
<br />
Siemens also has the single biggest post-Holocaust moment of insensitivity of any of the companies on this list. In 2001, they tried to trademark the word "Zyklon" (which means "cyclone" in German) to become the name a new line of products... including a line of gas ovens. <br />
<br />
Zyklon, of course, being the name of the poison gas used in their gas chambers during the Holocaust. <br />
<br />
A week later, after several watchdog groups appropriately freaked out, Siemens withdrew the application. They said they never drew the connection between the Zyklon B gas used during the Holocaust and their proposed Zyklon line of products. (Source: BBC) <br />
<br />
6. Coca-Cola, specifically Fanta. Coke played both sides during World War Two... they supported the American troops but also kept making soda for the Nazis. Then, in 1941, the German branch of Coke ran out of syrup, and couldn't get any from America because of wartime restrictions. <br />
<br />
So they invented a new drink, specifically for the Nazis: A fruit-flavored soda called Fanta. <br />
<br />
That's right: Long before Fanta was associated with a bunch of exotic women singing a god-awful jingle, it was the unofficial drink of Nazi Germany. (Source: New Statesman) <br />
<br />
7. Ford. Henry Ford is a pretty legendary anti-Semite, so this makes sense. He was Hitler's most famous foreign backer. On his 75th birthday, in 1938, Ford received a Nazi medal, designed for "distinguished foreigners." <br />
<br />
He profiteered off both sides of the War -- he was producing vehicles for the Nazis AND for the Allies. <br />
<br />
I'm wondering if, in a completely misguided piece of logic, Allianz points to the Detroit Lions giving Ford the naming rights to their stadium as a reason why they should get the rights to the Meadowlands. (Source: Reformed Theology) <br />
<br />
8. Standard Oil. The Luftwaffe needed tetraethyl lead gas in order to get their planes off the ground. Standard Oil was one of only three companies that could manufacture that type of fuel. So they did. <br />
<br />
Without them, the German air force never could've even gotten their planes off the ground. <br />
<br />
When Standard Oil was dissolved as a monopoly, it led to ExxonMobil, Chevron and BP, all of which are still around today. (But fortunately, their parent company's past decision to make incredible profits off of war have not carried on.) (Source: MIT's Thistle) <br />
<br />
9. Chase bank. A lot of banks sided with the Nazis during World War Two. Chase is the most prominent. <br />
<br />
They froze European Jewish customers' accounts and were extremely cooperative in providing banking service to Germany. (Source: New York Times) <br />
<br />
10. IBM. IBM custom-build machines for the Nazis that they could use to track everything... from oil supplies to train schedules into death camps to Jewish bank accounts to individual Holocaust victims themselves. <br />
<br />
In September of 1939, when Germany invaded Poland, the "New York Times" reported that three million Jews were going to be "immediately removed" from Poland and were likely going to be "exterminat[ed]." <br />
<br />
IBM's reaction? An internal memo saying that, due to that "situation", they really needed to step up production on high-speed alphabetizing equipment. (Source: CNet) <br />
<br />
11. Random House publishing. Random House's parent company, Bertelsmann A.G., worked for the Nazis... they published Hitler propaganda, and a book called "Sterilization and Euthanasia: A Contribution to Applied Christian Ethics". <br />
<br />
Bertelsmann still owns and operates several companies. I picked Random House because they drew controversy in 1997 when they decided to expand the definition of Nazi in Webster's Dictionary. <br />
<br />
Eleven years ago, they added the colloquial, softened definition of "a person who is fanatically dedicated to or seeks to control a specified activity, practice, etc." (Think "Soup Nazi".) <br />
<br />
The Anti-Defamation League called that expanded definition offensive... especially when added by a company with Nazi ties... they said it, quote, "trivializes and denies the murderous intent and actions of the Nazi regime... it also cheapens the language by allowing people to reach for a quick word fix... [and] lends a helping hand to those whose aim is to prove that the Nazis were really not such terrible people." (Source: New York Observer, ADL)<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s1183.photobucket.com/albums/x474/dennis7898/?action=view¤t=63299_1399749920352_1430412373_30853390_1844551_n.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1183.photobucket.com/albums/x474/dennis7898/63299_1399749920352_1430412373_30853390_1844551_n.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<a href="http://s1183.photobucket.com/albums/x474/dennis7898/?action=view¤t=61161_1399748760323_1430412373_30853388_224181_n.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1183.photobucket.com/albums/x474/dennis7898/61161_1399748760323_1430412373_30853388_224181_n.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>Sawaad Amen Rahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16088798910340182517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11219995.post-71547724974470548612010-07-15T14:28:00.003-05:002010-10-03T10:30:18.040-05:00六六三十六,数中有术,术中有数。<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view¤t=african_woman.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/african_woman.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/?action=view¤t=31818_1256219376012_1545444231_3051.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/31818_1256219376012_1545444231_3051.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view¤t=unia2.gif" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/unia2.gif" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
Shem Hotep ("I go in peace").<br />
<br />
"Is god willing to prevent evil but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him god?" Epicurus <br />
<br />
<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view¤t=51YRGVVYNEL__SL272_.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/51YRGVVYNEL__SL272_.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
The Thirty-Six Strategies<i></i></b><br />
<br />
六六三十六,数中有术,术中有数。<br />
阴阳燮理,机在其中。机不可设,设则不中。 <br />
"The Thirty-Six Strategies" is a a Chinese collection of 36 proverbs commented as militaristic tactics. Often attributed to Sun Tzu, this is generally rejected by scholars since Sun Tzu lived during the Spring and Autumn Period of China, while most of the 36 proverbs postdate that. It is believed by many to have been written by Zhuge Liang of the Three Kingdoms period. <br />
<br />
Chapter 1 winning Strategies<br />
Strategy 1 "瞒天过海" - Deceive the sky to cross the ocean. <br />
Moving about in the darkness and shadows, occupying isolated places, or hiding behind screens will only attract suspicious attention. To lower an enemy's guard you must act in the open hiding your true intentions under the guise of common every day activities.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Strategy 2 "围魏救赵" - Surround Wei to rescue Zhao. <br />
When the enemy is too strong to attack directly, then attack something he holds dear. Know that in all things he cannot be superior. Somewhere there is a gap in the armour, a weakness that can be attacked instead.<br />
In other words, you may try to attack the relatives or dear ones of the enemy to weaken him psychologically.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Strategy 3 "借刀杀人" - Borrow one's hand to kill. (Kill with a borrowed knife.) <br />
Attack using the strength of another (because of lack of strength or do not want to use own strength). Trick an ally into attacking him, bribe an official to turn traitor, or use the enemy's own strength against him.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Strategy 4 "以逸待劳" - Make your enemy tire himself out while conserving energy. <br />
It is an advantage to choose the time and place for battle. In this way you know when and where the battle will take place, while your enemy does not. Encourage your enemy to expend his energy in futile quests while you conserve your strength. When he is exhausted and confused, you attack with energy and purpose.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Strategy 5 "趁火打劫" - Use the opportunity of fire to rob others. (Loot a burning house.) <br />
When a country is beset by internal conflicts, when disease and famine ravage the population, when corruption and crime are rampant, then it will be unable to deal with an outside threat. This is the time to attack.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Strategy 6 "声东击西" - Feign an attack in the east and attack in the west. <br />
In any battle the element of surprise can provide an overwhelming advantage. Even when face to face with an enemy, surprise can still be employed by attacking where he least expects it. To do this you must create an expectation in the enemy's mind through the use of a feint.<br />
Chapter 2 <<enemy Dealing Strategies>><br />
Strategy 7 "无中生有" - Create something from nothing. <br />
You use the same feint twice. Having reacted to the first and often the second feint as well, the enemy will be hesitant to react to a third feint. Therefore the third feint is the actual attack catching your enemy with his guard down.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Strategy 8 "暗渡陈仓" - Secretly utilize the Chen Chang passage. (Repair the highway to take the crude path.) <br />
Attack the enemy with two convergent forces. The first is the direct attack, one that is obvious and for which the enemy prepares his defense. The second is the indirect, the attack sinister, that the enemy does not expect and which causes him to divide his forces at the last minute leading to confusion and disaster.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Strategy 9 "隔岸观火" - Watch the fires burning across the river. <br />
Delay entering the field of battle until all the other players have become exhausted fighting amongst themselves. Then go in full strength and pick up the pieces.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Strategy 10 "笑里藏刀" - Knife sheathed in a smile. <br />
Charm and ingratiate yourself to your enemy. When you have gained his trust, you move against him in secret.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Strategy 11 "李代桃僵" - Plum tree sacrifices for the peach tree. (Sacrifice the silver to keep the gold.) <br />
There are circumstances in which you must sacrifice short-term objectives in order to gain the long-term goal. This is the scapegoat strategy whereby someone else suffers the consequences so that the rest do not.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Strategy 12 "顺手牵羊" - Stealing a goat along the way (Take the opportunity to pilfer a goat.) <br />
While carrying out your plans be flexible enough to take advantage of any opportunity that presents itself, however small, and avail yourself of any profit, however slight.<br />
[edit] Chapter 3 <<attacking Strategies>><br />
Strategy 13 "打草惊蛇" - Startle the snake by hitting the grass around it. <br />
When you cannot detect the opponent's plans launch a direct, but brief, attack and observe your opponent reactions. His behavior will reveal his strategy.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Strategy 14 "借尸还魂" - Borrow another's corpse to resurrect the soul. (Raise a corpse from the dead.) <br />
Take an institution, a technology, or a method that has been forgotten or discarded and appropriate it for your own purpose. Revive something from the past by giving it a new purpose or to reinterpret and bring to life old ideas, customs, and traditions.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Strategy 15 "调虎离山" - Entice the tiger to leave its mountain lair. <br />
Never directly attack an opponent whose advantage is derived from its position. Instead lure him away from his position thus separating him from his source of strength.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Strategy 16 "欲擒姑纵" - In order to capture, one must let loose. <br />
Cornered prey will often mount a final desperate attack. To prevent this you let the enemy believe he still has a chance for freedom. His will to fight is thus dampened by his desire to escape. When in the end the freedom is proven a falsehood the enemy's morale will be defeated and he will surrender without a fight.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Strategy 17 "抛砖引玉" - Tossing out a brick to get a jade <br />
Prepare a trap then lure your enemy into the trap by using bait. In war the bait is the illusion of an opportunity for gain. In life the bait is the illusion of wealth, power, and sex.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Strategy 18 "擒贼擒王" - Defeat the enemy by capturing their chief. <br />
If the enemy's army is strong but is allied to the commander only by money or threats then, take aim at the leader. If the commander falls the rest of the army will disperse or come over to your side. If, however, they are allied to the leader through loyalty then beware, the army can continue to fight on after his death out of vengeance.<br />
[edit] Chapter 4 <<chaos Strategies>><br />
Strategy 19 "釜底抽薪" - Remove the firewood under the cooking pot. (Remove the stick from the axe.) <br />
When faced with an enemy too powerful to engage directly you must first weaken him by undermining his foundation and attacking his source of power.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Strategy 20 "混水摸鱼" - Fish in disturbed waters. <br />
Before engaging your enemy's forces create confusion to weaken his perception and judgment. Do something unusual, strange, and unexpected as this will arouse the enemy's suspicion and disrupt his thinking. A distracted enemy is thus more vulnerable.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Strategy 21 "金蝉脱壳" - Slough off the cicada's shell. (False appearances mislead the enemy.) <br />
When you are in danger of being defeated, and your only chance is to escape and regroup, then create an illusion. While the enemy's attention is focused on this artifice, secretly remove your men leaving behind only the facade of your presence.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Strategy 22 "关门捉贼" - Shut the door to catch the thief. <br />
If you have the chance to completely capture the enemy then you should do so thereby bringing the battle or war to a quick and lasting conclusion. To allow your enemy to escape plants the seeds for future conflict. But if they succeed in escaping, be wary of giving chase.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Strategy 23 "远交近攻" - Befriend a distant state while attacking a neighbor. <br />
It is known that nations that border each other become enemies while nations separated by distance and obstacles make better allies. When you are the strongest in one field, your greatest threat is from the second strongest in your field, not the strongest from another field.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Strategy 24 "假道伐虢" - Obtain safe passage to conquer the Kingdom of Guo. <br />
Borrow the resources of an ally to attack a common enemy. Once the enemy is defeated, use those resources to turn on the ally that lent you them in the first place.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
[edit] Chapter 5 <<proximate Strategies>><br />
Strategy 25 "偷梁换柱" - Replace the beams with rotten timbers. <br />
Disrupt the enemy's formations, interfere with their methods of operations, change the rules in which they are used to following, go contrary to their standard training. In this way you remove the supporting pillar, the common link that makes a group of men an effective fighting force.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Strategy 26 "指桑骂槐" - Point at the mulberry and curse the locust. <br />
To discipline, control, or warn others whose status or position excludes them from direct confrontation; use analogy and innuendo. Without directly naming names, those accused cannot retaliate without revealing their complicity.<br />
<br />
Strategy 27 "假痴不癫" - Pretend to be a pig in order to eat the tiger. (Play dumb.) <br />
Hide behind the mask of a fool, a drunk, or a madman to create confusion about your intentions and motivations. Lure your opponent into underestimating your ability until, overconfident, he drops his guard. Then you may attack.<br />
<br />
Strategy 28 "上屋抽梯" - Remove the ladder when the enemy has ascended to the roof (Cross the river and destroy the bridge.) <br />
With baits and deceptions lure your enemy into treacherous terrain. Then cut off his lines of communication and avenue of escape. To save himself he must fight both your own forces and the elements of nature.<br />
<br />
Strategy 29 "树上开花" - Deck the tree with false blossoms. <br />
Tying silk blossoms on a dead tree gives the illusion that the tree is healthy. Through the use of artifice and disguise make something of no value appear valuable; of no threat appear dangerous; of no use appear useful.<br />
<br />
Strategy 30 "反客为主" - Make the host and the guest exchange places. <br />
Defeat the enemy from within by infiltrating the enemy's camp under the guise of cooperation, surrender, or peace treaties. In this way you can discover his weakness and then, when the enemy's guard is relaxed, strike directly at the source of his strength.<br />
[edit] Chapter 6 <<defeat Strategies>><br />
Strategy 31 "美人计" - The beauty trap. (The tender trap, use a woman to ensnare a man.) <br />
Send your enemy beautiful women to cause discord within his camp. This strategy can work on three levels. First, the ruler becomes so enamored with the beauty that he neglects his duties and allows his vigilance to wane. Second, other males at court will begin to display aggressive behavior that inflames minor differences hindering co-operation and destroying morale. Third, other females at court, motivated by jealousy and envy, begin to plot intrigues further exacberating the situation.<br />
<br />
Strategy 32 "空城计" - Empty fort. (Mental trap, empty a fort to make enemy think it is filled with traps.) <br />
When the enemy is superior in numbers and your situation is such that you expect to be overrun at any moment, then drop all pretence of military preparedness and act casually. Unless the enemy has an accurate description of your situation this unusual behavior will arouse suspicions. With luck he will be dissuaded from attacking.<br />
<br />
Strategy 33 "反间计" - Let the enemy's spy sow discord in the enemy camp. (Use enemy's own spy to spread false information.) <br />
Undermine your enemy's ability to fight by allowing enemy's spy to remain within your ranks,while you feed false information causing enemy discord with his friends, allies, advisors, family, commanders, soldiers, and population. Preoccupied settling internal disputes, your enemy's ability to attack or defend is compromised and your control of him is increased.<br />
<br />
Strategy 34 "苦肉计" - Inflict injury on one's self to win the enemy's trust. (Fall into a trap; become baited.) <br />
Pretending to be injured has two possible applications. In the first, the enemy is lulled into relaxing his guard since he no longer considers you to be an immediate threat. The second is a way of ingratiating yourself to your enemy by pretending the injury was caused by a mutual enemy.<br />
<br />
Strategy 35 "连环计" - Chain together the enemy's ships. (Never rely on but a single strategy.) <br />
In important matters one should use several strategies applied simultaneously. Keep different plans operating in an overall scheme; in this manner if any one strategy fails you would still have several others to fall back on.<br />
The 36th strategy "走为上" - Run away to fight another day. <br />
If it becomes obvious that your current course of action will lead to defeat then retreat and regroup. When your side is losing there are only three choices remaining: surrender, compromise, or escape. Surrender is complete defeat, compromise is half defeat, but escape is not defeat. As long as you are not defeated, you still have a chance.Sawaad Amen Rahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16088798910340182517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11219995.post-14445279758149880952010-07-08T14:03:00.001-05:002010-09-26T14:27:05.471-05:00The 33 Strategies Of War<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view¤t=402px-Ati_woman_2.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/402px-Ati_woman_2.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/?action=view¤t=31818_1256219376012_1545444231_3051.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/31818_1256219376012_1545444231_3051.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view¤t=unia2.gif" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/unia2.gif" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
Shem Hotep ("I go in peace").<br />
<br />
"I am a deeply religious nonbeliever -- this is a somewhat new kind of religion." Albert Einstein <br />
<br />
<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view¤t=errtt.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/errtt.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
The 33 Strategies Of War<b><i><b><i></i></b></i></b><br />
<br />
1: Declare war on your enemies: Polarity<br />
<br />
You cannot fight effectively unless you can identify them. Learn to smoke them out, then inwardly declare war. Your enemies can fill you with purpose and direction.<br />
<br />
2: Do not fight the last war: Guerilla-war-of-the-mind<br />
<br />
Wage war on the past and ruthlessly force yourself to react to the present. Make everything fluid and mobile.<br />
<br />
3: Amidst the turmoil of events, do not lose your presence of mind: Counterbalance<br />
<br />
Keep your presence of mind whatever the circumstances. Make your mind tougher by exposing it to adversity. Learn to detach youself from the chaos of the battlefied.<br />
<br />
4: Create a sense of urgency and desperation: Death-ground<br />
<br />
Place yourself where your back is against the wall and you have to fight like hell to get out alive.<br />
<br />
<br />
5: Avoid the snares of groupthink: Command-and-control<br />
<br />
Create a chain of command where people do not feel constrained by your influence yet follow your lead. Create a sense of participation, but do not fall into groupthink.<br />
<br />
6: Segment your forces: Controlled-chaos<br />
<br />
The critical elements in war are speed and adaptability–the ability to move and make decisions faster than the enemy. Break your forces into independent groups that can operate on their own. Give them the spirit of the campaign, a mission to accomplish, and room to run.<br />
<br />
7: Transform your war into a crusade: Morale<br />
<br />
Get them to think less about themselves and more about the group. Involve them in a cause, a crusade against a hated enemy. Make them see their survival is tied to the success of the army as a whole.<br />
<br />
<br />
8: Pick your battles carefully: Perfect-economy<br />
<br />
Consider the hidden costs of war: time, political goodwill, an embittered enemy bent on revenge. Sometimes it is better to undermine your enemies covertly.<br />
<br />
9: Turn the tables: Counterattack<br />
<br />
Let the other side move first. If aggressive, bait them into a rash attack that leaves them in a weak position.<br />
<br />
10: Create a threatening presence: Deterrence<br />
<br />
Build a reputation for being a little crazy. Fighting you is not worth it. Uncertainty can be better than an explicit threat. If your opponents aren’t sure what attacking you will cost, they will not want to find out.<br />
<br />
11: Trade space for time: Nonengagement<br />
<br />
Retreat is a sign of strength. Resisting the temptation to respond buys valuable time. Sometimes you accomplish most by doing nothing.<br />
<br />
<br />
12: Lose battles, but win the war: Grand strategy<br />
<br />
Grand strategy is the art of looking beyond the present battle and calculating ahead. Focus on your ultimate goal and plot to reach it.<br />
<br />
13: Know your enemy: Intelligence<br />
<br />
The target of your strategies is not the army you face, but the mind who runs it. Learn to read people.<br />
<br />
14: Overwhelm resistance with speed and suddenness: Blitzkrieg<br />
<br />
Speed is power. Striking first, before enemies have time to think or prepare will make them emotional, unbalanced, and prone to error.<br />
<br />
15: Control the dynamic: Forcing<br />
<br />
Instead of trying to dominate the other side’s every move, work to define the nature of the relationship itself. Control your opponent’s mind, pushing emotional buttons and compelling them to make mistakes.<br />
<br />
16: Hit them where it hurts: Center-of-gravity<br />
<br />
Find the source of your enemy’s power. Find out what he cherishes and protects and strike.<br />
<br />
17: Defeat them in detail: Divide and conquer<br />
<br />
Separate the parts and sow dissension and division. Turn a large problem into small, eminently defeatable parts.<br />
<br />
18: Expose and attack your opponent’s soft flank: Turning<br />
<br />
Frontal assaults stiffen resistance. Instead, distract your enemy’s attention to the front, then attack from the side when they expose their weakness.<br />
<br />
19: Envelop the enemy: Annihilation<br />
<br />
Create relentless pressure from all sides and close off their access to the outside world. When you sense weakening resolve, tighten the noose and crush their willpower.<br />
<br />
20: Maneuver them into weakness: Ripening for the sickle<br />
<br />
Before the battle begins, put your opponent in a position of such weakness that victory is easy and quick. Create dilemmas where all potential choices are bad.<br />
<br />
21: Negotiate while advancing: Diplomatic war<br />
<br />
Before and during negotiations, keep advancing, creating relentless pressure and compelling the other side to settle on your terms. The more you take, the more you can give back in meaningless concessions. Create a reputation for being tough and uncompromising so that people are giving ground even before they meet you.<br />
<br />
22: Know how to end things: Exit strategy<br />
<br />
You are judged by how well things conclude. Know when to stop. Avoid all conflicts and entanglements from which there are no realistic exits.<br />
<br />
<br />
23: Weave a seamless blend of fact and fiction: Misperception<br />
<br />
Make it hard for your enemies to know what is going on around them. Feed their expectations, manufacture a reality to match their desires, and they will fool themselves. Control people’s perceptions of reality and you control them.<br />
<br />
24: Take the line of least expectation: Ordinary-Extraordinary<br />
<br />
Upset expectations. First do something ordinary and conventional, then hit them with the extraordinary. Sometimes the ordinary is extraordinary because it is unexpected.<br />
<br />
25: Occupy the moral high ground: Righteousness<br />
<br />
The cause you are fighting for must seem more just than the enemy’s. Questioning their motives and making enemies appear evil can narrow their base of support and room to maneuver. When you come under moral attack from a clever enemy, don’t whine or get angry–fight fire with fire.<br />
<br />
26: Deny them targets: The Void<br />
<br />
The feeling of emptiness is intolerable for most people. Give enemies no target to attach. Be dangerous and elusive, and let them chase you into the void. Deliver irritating but damaging side attacks and pinpricks.<br />
<br />
27: Seem to work for the interests of others while furthering your own: Alliance<br />
<br />
Get others to compensate for your deficiencies, do your dirty work, fight your wars. Sow dissension in the alliances of others, weakening opponents by isolating them.<br />
<br />
28: Give your rivals enough rope to hang themselves: One-upmanship<br />
<br />
Instill doubts and insecurities in rivals, getting them to think too much and act defensive. Make them hang themselves through their own self-destructive tendencies, leaving you blameless and clean.<br />
<br />
29: Take small bites: Fait Accompli<br />
<br />
Take small bites to play on people’s short attention span. Before they notice, you may acquire an empire.<br />
<br />
30: Penetrate their minds: Communication<br />
<br />
Infiltrate your ideas behind enemy lines, sending messages through little details. Lure people into coming to the conclusions you desire and into thinking they’ve gotten there by themselves.<br />
<br />
31: Destroy from within: The Inner Front<br />
<br />
To take something you want, don’t fight those who have it, but join them. Then either slowly make it your own or wait for the right moment to stage a coup.<br />
<br />
32: Dominate while seeming to submit: Passive-Aggression<br />
<br />
Seem to go along, offering no resistance, but actually dominate the situation. Disguise your aggression so you can deny that it exists.<br />
<br />
33: Sow uncertainty and panic through acts of terror: Chain Reaction<br />
<br />
Terror can paralyze a people’s will to resist and destroy their ability to plan a strategic response. The goal is to cause maximum chaos and provoke a desperate overreaction. To counter terror, stay balanced and rational.Sawaad Amen Rahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16088798910340182517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11219995.post-13150820362542764742010-07-01T13:06:00.000-05:002010-09-26T13:51:27.875-05:00The 48 Laws of Power<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view¤t=3256756951_1b11dd92c2.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/3256756951_1b11dd92c2.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/?action=view¤t=31818_1256219376012_1545444231_3051.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/31818_1256219376012_1545444231_3051.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view¤t=unia2.gif" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/unia2.gif" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
Shem Hotep ("I go in peace").<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view¤t=13696842.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/13696842.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<b>The 48 Laws of Power.<i></i></b><br />
<br />
Law 1 <br />
<br />
Never Outshine the Master<br />
<br />
Always make those above you feel comfortably superior. In your desire to please or impress them, do not go too far in displaying your talents or you might accomplish the opposite – inspire fear and insecurity. Make your masters appear more brilliant than they are and you will attain the heights of power.<br />
<br />
Law 2<br />
<br />
Never put too Much Trust in Friends, Learn how to use Enemies <br />
<br />
Be wary of friends-they will betray you more quickly, for they are easily aroused to envy. They also become spoiled and tyrannical. But hire a former enemy and he will be more loyal than a friend, because he has more to prove. In fact, you have more to fear from friends than from enemies. If you have no enemies, find a way to make them.<br />
<br />
Law 3 <br />
<br />
Conceal your Intentions <br />
<br />
Keep people off-balance and in the dark by never revealing the purpose behind your actions. If they have no clue what you are up to, they cannot prepare a defense. Guide them far enough down the wrong path, envelope them in enough smoke, and by the time they realize your intentions, it will be too late.<br />
<br />
Law 4 <br />
<br />
Always Say Less than Necessary <br />
<br />
When you are trying to impress people with words, the more you say, the more common you appear, and the less in control. Even if you are saying something banal, it will seem original if you make it vague, open-ended, and sphinxlike. Powerful people impress and intimidate by saying less. The more you say, the more likely you are to say something foolish.<br />
<br />
Law 5<br />
<br />
So Much Depends on Reputation – Guard it with your Life <br />
<br />
Reputation is the cornerstone of power. Through reputation alone you can intimidate and win; once you slip, however, you are vulnerable, and will be attacked on all sides. Make your reputation unassailable. Always be alert to potential attacks and thwart them before they happen. Meanwhile, learn to destroy your enemies by opening holes in their own reputations. Then stand aside and let public opinion hang them.<br />
<br />
Law 6<br />
<br />
Court Attention at all Cost <br />
<br />
Everything is judged by its appearance; what is unseen counts for nothing. Never let yourself get lost in the crowd, then, or buried in oblivion. Stand out. Be conspicuous, at all cost. Make yourself a magnet of attention by appearing larger, more colorful, more mysterious, than the bland and timid masses.<br />
<br />
Law 7<br />
<br />
Get others to do the Work for you, but Always Take the Credit <br />
<br />
Use the wisdom, knowledge, and legwork of other people to further your own cause. Not only will such assistance save you valuable time and energy, it will give you a godlike aura of efficiency and speed. In the end your helpers will be forgotten and you will be remembered. Never do yourself what others can do for you.<br />
<br />
Law 8<br />
<br />
Make other People come to you – use Bait if Necessary <br />
<br />
When you force the other person to act, you are the one in control. It is always better to make your opponent come to you, abandoning his own plans in the process. Lure him with fabulous gains – then attack. You hold the cards.<br />
<br />
Law 9<br />
<br />
Win through your Actions, Never through Argument <br />
<br />
Any momentary triumph you think gained through argument is really a Pyrrhic victory: The resentment and ill will you stir up is stronger and lasts longer than any momentary change of opinion. It is much more powerful to get others to agree with you through your actions, without saying a word. Demonstrate, do not explicate.<br />
<br />
Law 10 <br />
<br />
Infection: Avoid the Unhappy and Unlucky <br />
<br />
You can die from someone else’s misery – emotional states are as infectious as disease. You may feel you are helping the drowning man but you are only precipitating your own disaster. The unfortunate sometimes draw misfortune on themselves; they will also draw it on you. Associate with the happy and fortunate instead.<br />
<br />
Law 11<br />
<br />
Learn to Keep People Dependent on You <br />
<br />
To maintain your independence you must always be needed and wanted. The more you are relied on, the more freedom you have. Make people depend on you for their happiness and prosperity and you have nothing to fear. Never teach them enough so that they can do without you.<br />
<br />
Law 12<br />
<br />
Use Selective Honesty and Generosity to Disarm your Victim<br />
<br />
One sincere and honest move will cover over dozens of dishonest ones. Open-hearted gestures of honesty and generosity bring down the guard of even the most suspicious people. Once your selective honesty opens a hole in their armor, you can deceive and manipulate them at will. A timely gift – a Trojan horse – will serve the same purpose.<br />
<br />
Law 13<br />
<br />
When Asking for Help, Appeal to People’s Self-Interest, <br />
<br />
Never to their Mercy or Gratitude <br />
<br />
If you need to turn to an ally for help, do not bother to remind him of your past assistance and good deeds. He will find a way to ignore you. Instead, uncover something in your request, or in your alliance with him, that will benefit him, and emphasize it out of all proportion. He will respond enthusiastically when he sees something to be gained for himself.<br />
<br />
Law 14<br />
<br />
Pose as a Friend, Work as a Spy <br />
<br />
Knowing about your rival is critical. Use spies to gather valuable information that will keep you a step ahead. Better still: Play the spy yourself. In polite social encounters, learn to probe. Ask indirect questions to get people to reveal their weaknesses and intentions. There is no occasion that is not an opportunity for artful spying.<br />
<br />
Law 15<br />
<br />
Crush your Enemy Totally <br />
<br />
All great leaders since Moses have known that a feared enemy must be crushed completely. (Sometimes they have learned this the hard way.) If one ember is left alight, no matter how dimly it smolders, a fire will eventually break out. More is lost through stopping halfway than through total annihilation: The enemy will recover, and will seek revenge. Crush him, not only in body but in spirit.<br />
<br />
Law 16<br />
<br />
Use Absence to Increase Respect and Honor <br />
<br />
Too much circulation makes the price go down: The more you are seen and heard from, the more common you appear. If you are already established in a group, temporary withdrawal from it will make you more talked about, even more admired. You must learn when to leave. Create value through scarcity.<br />
<br />
Law 17<br />
<br />
Keep Others in Suspended Terror: Cultivate an Air of Unpredictability <br />
<br />
Humans are creatures of habit with an insatiable need to see familiarity in other people’s actions. Your predictability gives them a sense of control. Turn the tables: Be deliberately unpredictable. Behavior that seems to have no consistency or purpose will keep them off-balance, and they will wear themselves out trying to explain your moves. Taken to an extreme, this strategy can intimidate and terrorize.<br />
<br />
Law 18 <br />
<br />
Do Not Build Fortresses to Protect Yourself – Isolation is Dangerous <br />
<br />
The world is dangerous and enemies are everywhere – everyone has to protect themselves. A fortress seems the safest. But isolation exposes you to more dangers than it protects you from – it cuts you off from valuable information, it makes you conspicuous and an easy target. Better to circulate among people find allies, mingle. You are shielded from your enemies by the crowd.<br />
<br />
Law 19 <br />
<br />
Know Who You’re Dealing with – Do Not Offend the Wrong Person <br />
<br />
There are many different kinds of people in the world, and you can never assume that everyone will react to your strategies in the same way. Deceive or outmaneuver some people and they will spend the rest of their lives seeking revenge. They are wolves in lambs’ clothing. Choose your victims and opponents carefully, then – never offend or deceive the wrong person.<br />
<br />
Law 20 <br />
<br />
Do Not Commit to Anyone <br />
<br />
It is the fool who always rushes to take sides. Do not commit to any side or cause but yourself. By maintaining your independence, you become the master of others – playing people against one another, making them pursue you.<br />
<br />
Law 21 <br />
<br />
Play a Sucker to Catch a Sucker – Seem Dumber than your Mark <br />
<br />
No one likes feeling stupider than the next persons. The trick, is to make your victims feel smart – and not just smart, but smarter than you are. Once convinced of this, they will never suspect that you may have ulterior motives.<br />
<br />
Law 22 <br />
<br />
Use the Surrender Tactic: Transform Weakness into Power <br />
<br />
When you are weaker, never fight for honor’s sake; choose surrender instead. Surrender gives you time to recover, time to torment and irritate your conqueror, time to wait for his power to wane. Do not give him the satisfaction of fighting and defeating you – surrender first. By turning the other check you infuriate and unsettle him. Make surrender a tool of power.<br />
<br />
Law 23 <br />
<br />
Concentrate Your Forces <br />
<br />
Conserve your forces and energies by keeping them concentrated at their strongest point. You gain more by finding a rich mine and mining it deeper, than by flitting from one shallow mine to another – intensity defeats extensity every time. When looking for sources of power to elevate you, find the one key patron, the fat cow who will give you milk for a long time to come.<br />
<br />
Law 24 <br />
<br />
Play the Perfect Courtier <br />
<br />
The perfect courtier thrives in a world where everything revolves around power and political dexterity. He has mastered the art of indirection; he flatters, yields to superiors, and asserts power over others in the mot oblique and graceful manner. Learn and apply the laws of courtiership and there will be no limit to how far you can rise in the court.<br />
<br />
Law 25 <br />
<br />
Re-Create Yourself <br />
<br />
Do not accept the roles that society foists on you. Re-create yourself by forging a new identity, one that commands attention and never bores the audience. Be the master of your own image rather than letting others define if for you. Incorporate dramatic devices into your public gestures and actions – your power will be enhanced and your character will seem larger than life.<br />
<br />
Law 26 <br />
<br />
Keep Your Hands Clean <br />
<br />
You must seem a paragon of civility and efficiency: Your hands are never soiled by mistakes and nasty deeds. Maintain such a spotless appearance by using others as scapegoats and cat’s-paws to disguise your involvement.<br />
<br />
Law 27 <br />
<br />
Play on People’s Need to Believe to Create a Cultlike Following <br />
<br />
People have an overwhelming desire to believe in something. Become the focal point of such desire by offering them a cause, a new faith to follow. Keep your words vague but full of promise; emphasize enthusiasm over rationality and clear thinking. Give your new disciples rituals to perform, ask them to make sacrifices on your behalf. In the absence of organized religion and grand causes, your new belief system will bring you untold power.<br />
<br />
Law 28 <br />
<br />
Enter Action with Boldness <br />
<br />
If you are unsure of a course of action, do not attempt it. Your doubts and hesitations will infect your execution. Timidity is dangerous: Better to enter with boldness. Any mistakes you commit through audacity are easily corrected with more audacity. Everyone admires the bold; no one honors the timid.<br />
<br />
Law 29 <br />
<br />
Plan All the Way to the End <br />
<br />
The ending is everything. Plan all the way to it, taking into account all the possible consequences, obstacles, and twists of fortune that might reverse your hard work and give the glory to others. By planning to the end you will not be overwhelmed by circumstances and you will know when to stop. Gently guide fortune and help determine the future by thinking far ahead.<br />
<br />
Law 30 <br />
<br />
Make your Accomplishments Seem Effortless <br />
<br />
Your actions must seem natural and executed with ease. All the toil and practice that go into them, and also all the clever tricks, must be concealed. When you act, act effortlessly, as if you could do much more. Avoid the temptation of revealing how hard you work – it only raises questions. Teach no one your tricks or they will be used against you.<br />
<br />
Law 31 <br />
<br />
Control the Options: Get Others to Play with the Cards you Deal <br />
<br />
The best deceptions are the ones that seem to give the other person a choice: Your victims feel they are in control, but are actually your puppets. Give people options that come out in your favor whichever one they choose. Force them to make choices between the lesser of two evils, both of which serve your purpose. Put them on the horns of a dilemma: They are gored wherever they turn.<br />
<br />
Law 32 <br />
<br />
Play to People’s Fantasies <br />
<br />
The truth is often avoided because it is ugly and unpleasant. Never appeal to truth and reality unless you are prepared for the anger that comes for disenchantment. Life is so harsh and distressing that people who can manufacture romance or conjure up fantasy are like oases in the desert: Everyone flocks to them. There is great power in tapping into the fantasies of the masses.<br />
<br />
Law 33 <br />
<br />
Discover Each Man’s Thumbscrew <br />
<br />
Everyone has a weakness, a gap in the castle wall. That weakness is usual y an insecurity, an uncontrollable emotion or need; it can also be a small secret pleasure. Either way, once found, it is a thumbscrew you can turn to your advantage.<br />
<br />
Law 34 <br />
<br />
Be Royal in your Own Fashion: Act like a King to be treated like one <br />
<br />
The way you carry yourself will often determine how you are treated; In the long run, appearing vulgar or common will make people disrespect you. For a king respects himself and inspires the same sentiment in others. By acting regally and confident of your powers, you make yourself seem destined to wear a crown.<br />
<br />
Law 35 <br />
<br />
Master the Art of Timing <br />
<br />
Never seem to be in a hurry – hurrying betrays a lack of control over yourself, and over time. Always seem patient, as if you know that everything will come to you eventually. Become a detective of the right moment; sniff out the spirit of the times, the trends that will carry you to power. Learn to stand back when the time is not yet ripe, and to strike fiercely when it has reached fruition.<br />
<br />
Law 36 <br />
<br />
Disdain Things you cannot have: Ignoring them is the best Revenge <br />
<br />
By acknowledging a petty problem you give it existence and credibility. The more attention you pay an enemy, the stronger you make him; and a small mistake is often made worse and more visible when you try to fix it. It is sometimes best to leave things alone. If there is something you want but cannot have, show contempt for it. The less interest you reveal, the more superior you seem. <br />
<br />
Law 37 <br />
<br />
Create Compelling Spectacles <br />
<br />
Striking imagery and grand symbolic gestures create the aura of power – everyone responds to them. Stage spectacles for those around you, then full of arresting visuals and radiant symbols that heighten your presence. Dazzled by appearances, no one will notice what you are really doing. <br />
<br />
Law 38 <br />
<br />
Think as you like but Behave like others <br />
<br />
If you make a show of going against the times, flaunting your unconventional ideas and unorthodox ways, people will think that you only want attention and that you look down upon them. They will find a way to punish you for making them feel inferior. It is far safer to blend in and nurture the common touch. Share your originality only with tolerant friends and those who are sure to appreciate your uniqueness. <br />
<br />
Law 39 <br />
<br />
Stir up Waters to Catch Fish <br />
<br />
Anger and emotion are strategically counterproductive. You must always stay calm and objective. But if you can make your enemies angry while staying calm yourself, you gain a decided advantage. Put your enemies off-balance: Find the chink in their vanity through which you can rattle them and you hold the strings. <br />
<br />
Law 40 <br />
<br />
Despise the Free Lunch <br />
<br />
What is offered for free is dangerous – it usually involves either a trick or a hidden obligation. What has worth is worth paying for. By paying your own way you stay clear of gratitude, guilt, and deceit. It is also often wise to pay the full price – there is no cutting corners with excellence. Be lavish with your money and keep it circulating, for generosity is a sign and a magnet for power. <br />
<br />
Law 41 <br />
<br />
Avoid Stepping into a Great Man’s Shoes <br />
<br />
What happens first always appears better and more original than what comes after. If you succeed a great man or have a famous parent, you will have to accomplish double their achievements to outshine them. Do not get lost in their shadow, or stuck in a past not of your own making: Establish your own name and identity by changing course. Slay the overbearing father, disparage his legacy, and gain power by shining in your own way. <br />
<br />
Law 42 <br />
<br />
Strike the Shepherd and the Sheep will Scatter <br />
<br />
Trouble can often be traced to a single strong individual – the stirrer, the arrogant underling, the poisoned of goodwill. If you allow such people room to operate, others will succumb to their influence. Do not wait for the troubles they cause to multiply, do not try to negotiate with them – they are irredeemable. Neutralize their influence by isolating or banishing them. Strike at the source of the trouble and the sheep will scatter. <br />
<br />
Law 43 <br />
<br />
Work on the Hearts and Minds of Others <br />
<br />
Coercion creates a reaction that will eventually work against you. You must seduce others into wanting to move in your direction. A person you have seduced becomes your loyal pawn. And the way to seduce others is to operate on their individual psychologies and weaknesses. Soften up the resistant by working on their emotions, playing on what they hold dear and what they fear. Ignore the hearts and minds of others and they will grow to hate you. <br />
<br />
Law 44 <br />
<br />
Disarm and Infuriate with the Mirror Effect <br />
<br />
The mirror reflects reality, but it is also the perfect tool for deception: When you mirror your enemies, doing exactly as they do, they cannot figure out your strategy. The Mirror Effect mocks and humiliates them, making them overreact. By holding up a mirror to their psyches, you seduce them with the illusion that you share their values; by holding up a mirror to their actions, you teach them a lesson. Few can resist the power of Mirror Effect. <br />
<br />
Law 45 <br />
<br />
Preach the Need for Change, but Never Reform too much at Once <br />
<br />
Everyone understands the need for change in the abstract, but on the day-to-day level people are creatures of habit. Too much innovation is traumatic, and will lead to revolt. If you are new to a position of power, or an outsider trying to build a power base, make a show of respecting the old way of doing things. If change is necessary, make it feel like a gentle improvement on the past. <br />
<br />
Law 46 <br />
<br />
Never appear too Perfect <br />
<br />
Appearing better than others is always dangerous, but most dangerous of all is to appear to have no faults or weaknesses. Envy creates silent enemies. It is smart to occasionally display defects, and admit to harmless vices, in order to deflect envy and appear more human and approachable. Only gods and the dead can seem perfect with impunity. <br />
<br />
Law 47 <br />
<br />
Do not go Past the Mark you Aimed for; In Victory, Learn when to Stop <br />
<br />
The moment of victory is often the moment of greatest peril. In the heat of victory, arrogance and overconfidence can push you past the goal you had aimed for, and by going too far, you make more enemies than you defeat. Do not allow success to go to your head. There is no substitute for strategy and careful planning. Set a goal, and when you reach it, stop. <br />
<br />
Law 48 <br />
<br />
Assume Formlessness <br />
<br />
By taking a shape, by having a visible plan, you open yourself to attack. Instead of taking a form for your enemy to grasp, keep yourself adaptable and on the move. Accept the fact that nothing is certain and no law is fixed. The best way to protect yourself is to be as fluid and formless as water; never bet on stability or lasting order. Everything changes.Sawaad Amen Rahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16088798910340182517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11219995.post-32255105789384867922010-06-22T15:04:00.001-05:002010-08-22T15:15:33.668-05:00Black Hebrews?<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view¤t=tasha_destiny-atlnightspots1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/tasha_destiny-atlnightspots1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/?action=view¤t=31818_1256219376012_1545444231_3051.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/31818_1256219376012_1545444231_3051.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view¤t=unia2.gif" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/unia2.gif" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
Shem Hotep ("I go in peace").<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view¤t=soul-messages-from-dimona.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/soul-messages-from-dimona.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<b>Black Hebrews?<i></i></b><br />
<br />
The very words cause many people to grin at what appears to be simply a play on words. No one reads about such people in european authored history books and there are only a few references to "Ethiopian Jews" in white Jewish sources. Yet Black Hebrews have existed since biblical times. In fact, they are the original or proto-typical Hebrews.<br />
<br />
Their story begins with the Patriarch Abraham (2117-1942 B.C.), a native of the Sumerian city of Ur in ancient Mesopotamia. Archaeological discoveries have proven that the earliest inhabitants of southern Mesopotamia were members of the "Brown Race," i.e., the Negroid branch of humanity.<br />
<br />
It has been confirmed that the ancient Sumerians were akin to the modern Black Dravidians of India. The Sumerians also had an affinity with a people known as the Elamites, the very first Semitic group mentioned in the Bible (Gen. 10:22). The Elamites were a black-skinned and woolly-haired people as the colorful glazed artwork on the royal palace walls of the ancient Persian city of Susa clearly show.Thus Abraham, the native of Sumerian and the founding father of the Israelite nation, was a black man. The black racial origins of the Patriarchs is not based on mere conjecture, it is in complete agreement with the picture one gets from examining the identity of the earliest inhabitants of southern Mesopotamia.<br />
<br />
This truth is grossly neglected, suppressed, and distorted in most European and American historical texts which are flavored with race prejudice. Fortunately, however, there are enough well authored and highly researched works by Black historians that challenge the Eurocentric revisions of history and correct the various erroneous views regarding the ethnic identity of the Hebrews.<br />
<br />
Biblical history relates that the descendants of Abraham, namely Jacob (Israel) and his twelve sons and their wives, 70 in all, migrated from Canaan to Egypt around the year 1827 B.C. During their sojourn in Egypt the Children of Israel multiplied from being a family of 70 souls to a nation of over 3 million people at the time of the Exodus which took place in 1612 B.C.<br />
<br />
This astounding number of people in so short a time can only be adequately explained by intermarriage between the family of Jacob and the native Egyptian populace. It is an established fact that the ancient Egyptians were a black African people. Thus, even if the Hebrews were not black before they arrived in Egypt, which is unlikely given Abraham's background, they were definitely black by the time they left Egypt under Moses<br />
<br />
The biblical Hebrews were indistinguishable from native Egyptians and Ethiopians. The Bible is full of examples which demonstrates this, and even ancient secular historians remarked of the physical appearances of the Hebrews. The historian Tacitus, for example, stated that it was a common opinion among the Romans that the Jews "were an Ethiopian race." In Roman times PalestinianIsraelites were classed among Black Africans because it was almost impossible to tell them apart.<br />
<br />
Hence, the Eurocentric notion of the Black Hebrew as a kind of Johnnie-come-lately in Hebraic history does not accord with the facts. On the contrary, the historical record is abundantly clear that the majority of white European Jewry are not Hebrews in the biological sense but are actually the descendants of converts to Judaism during Greco-Roman and Mediaeval times. Professor Roland B. Dixon states emphatically that: "The great majority of all Jews [Ashkenazi] to-day are 'Semites' only in speech, and their true ancestry goes back not so much to Palestine and Arabia as to the uplands of Anatolia and Armenia, the Caucasus and the steppes of Central Asia, and their nearest relatives are still to be found in these areas to-day" (Racial History Of Man, p. 175).<br />
<br />
Caucasian Jews are not the lineal descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Nor do they constitute a separate race but rather a religious fraternity which adheres to the ethnic tradition of a people whose origins are inextricably linked to Black Africa.<br />
<br />
But if the original Hebrews were black where are their descendants in the world today? Are all black people Hebrews? The answer to the latter question is obviously no. The Israelites were only one of several black people existing in ancient the ancient world. Nevertheless, it is certain that the ancient Hebrews customs and practices who's legacy orginated in Africa, were adopted by that of white Jews in Europe. Very little is heard about the hundreds of thousands of Black Hebrews living in various parts of the world such as Africa, Asia, India, Arabia, the Caribbean islands, South America, and North America.<br />
<br />
The history of Black Hebrews in North America is perhaps one of the most important chapters in US history which has yet to be fully written. The ancestors of African Americans came from West Africa during the era of slavery. That particular region of Africa was once home to a number of Black Hebrew tribes that migrated from North and East Africa over many centuries. In speaking of these migrations, Dr. Yoseph A. A. ben-Yochannan writes that: "In North Africa, just before the period of Christianity's legal entry into Rome - due to Constantine "the Great" conversion in the 4th century - there were many Hebrew (Jewish) 'tribes' that are of indigenous African (the so-called 'Negroes') origin.<br />
<br />
These African Jews, as all other Romanized-African of this era, were caught in a rebellion in Cyrene (Cyrenaica) during 115 C.E. against Roman imperialism and colonialism. This rebellion also marked the beginning of a mass Jewish migration southward into Soudan (Sudan or West Africa) along the way of the city Aer (Air) and into the countries of Futa Jalon and Senegal (Sene-Gambia) which lie below the parabolic curve of the Niger River's most northern reaches, where the City of Tumbut (Timbuktu, Timbuctoo, etc.), Melle (Mali) presently stands." ("African Origins of the Major Western Religions," 1970, p. 76).<br />
<br />
Dr. Ben goes on to relate that Black Israelite immigrants from northern and eastern Africa merged with indigenous groups in western Africa to become the Fulani of Futa Jalon, Bornu, Kamen, and Lake Chad. They also formed the parent-stock of groups such as the Ashanti, the Hausa, the B'nai Ephraim (mentioned in earlier posts), and the Bavumbu (Mavumbu or Ma-yomba). All of these groups suffered tremendous population decreases during the years the Atlantic slave trade was in operation, others were completely eliminated.<br />
<br />
Thus, every so-called African American has Israelite ancestry in their family tree whether he or she knows it or not. Even in the very crucible of slavery the descendants of West African Hebrew captives in America struggled to keep their heritages from being obliterated by forced assimilation and acculturation. Their distinctive traditions became submerged in Christianity but always remained a part of the oral tradition via the so-called Negro Spirituals which praise the memory of ancestors and kinsmen like Moses, David, Joshua, and Daniel.<br />
<br />
Since the African-American conviction of having Israelite ancestry antedates the Civil War it is not surprising that the earliest Black Hebrew congregation to be established in North America was founded in the 1880s in Chattanooga, Tennessee by F. S. Cherry (the group later moved to Philadelphia). Cherry was a railroad worker and seaman who was fluent in both Yiddish and Hebrew. He adamantly preached that so-called American Negroes are really the lost sheep of the House of Israel whose true legacy was stolen from them during slavery. He urged his hearers to investigate their history in order to rediscover this truth and reclaim their heritage.<br />
<br />
In 1896, a man by the name of William S. Crowdy established another Hebrew congregation in Lawrence, Kansas. In 1899, Leon Richlieu established the Moorish Zionist Temple in Brooklyn. To date there are literally hundreds of uncharted Black Hebrew congregations in North America. They do not exist because of an aversion for mainstream American Protestantism or an attraction to white Jewish culture. As stated earlier, Black Hebrews have always been in the world; and they repudiate the notion that they are usurpers of the heritage of white Jews.<br />
<br />
The great proliferation of Black Hebrew groups occurred after World War I during the Great Migration of Blacks from rural areas in the South to urban centers in the North. There were at least nine Black Hebrew congregations in New York in the early 1900s, one of which was founded by a West Indian named Arnold Josiah Ford called "Beth B'nai Abraham Congregation." In 1918, another West Indian born Israelite named Wentworth Arthur Matthews founded the "Commandment Keepers," and emerged as one of the leading Black Israelite rabbis in Harlem. Born in 1892 of African Hebraic parentage in Lagos, West Africa, Matthews moved with his family to St. Kitts in the West Indies before coming to America in 1911.<br />
<br />
Branches of the "Commandment Keepers" exist in many American cities such as Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Cincinnati, Chicago, Ohio, Virginia, and New Jersey. In 1965, the "House of Judah" was founded by William Lewis in Wetumpka, Alabama. The group later purchased a twenty-acre tract near Grand Junction, Michigan where they practice a communal life-style. Black Hebrews feel that by reclaiming their Israelite identity they have also recovered an important part of their ancestral heritage. They hold to the conviction that their "Hebrewness" is directly traceable to their African forebears of Israelite extraction who were brought to this country during slavery. They are cognizant and proud of their non-Hebrew African heritages but like many other people with mixed backgrounds they opt to give certain of their forebears a more pronounced place in their identity.<br />
<br />
Black Israelite groups in America are decentralized and varied in ideology.Unlike white Orthodox Jews, Black Hebrews reject the Talmud, a collection of commentaries, as being on a par with the Bible and so they do not conform to rabbinical judgments which emphasize the need of conversion to Talmudism in order to be considered "truly" Jewish.<br />
<br />
Since the Bible recognizes patrilineal as well as matrilineal descent, Black Hebrews (like Reform Jews) do not place any special significance on having a "Jewish" mother as do Orthodox Jews. Another major reason why the Talmud is rejected is due to its role in creating the so-called Hamitic Myth which is the doctrine that teaches that all black-skinned people are the cursed descendants of Ham in the Bible.<br />
<br />
It was the promulgation of this erroneous myth, passing under the guise of "Jewish" talmudic scholarship, which provided the moral pretext for European slavery of Africans. The Talmud was not the product of ethnic Hebrews but of proselytized Babylonian sages who worked on editing it from the 3rd to in the 6th century A.D. It should not be used as the litmus test on Hebrew identity, particularly since it was of men who were clearly prejudice of Blacks, Israelites or otherwise.<br />
<br />
A major dilemma facing many Black Hebrews who wish to settle in Israel has to do with the Talmud and the fact that conversion is a mandatory prerequisite for gaining Israeli citizenship. The Black Jews from Ethiopian were not allowed to immigrate to Israel until they agreed to undergo a ceremonial conversion to white Judaism (which was tantamount to a denial of their own Hebrewness) and embrace the Talmud. However, many Ethiopian Jews, particular in the aftermath of the recent blood scandal in Israel, are seriously rethinking their decision to adopt the Talmud because it has not given them equal status with other white Israelis.<br />
<br />
Ethiopians Jews occupy the bottom rung of Israeli society today because they are black and are not considered "true" Hebrews because of their blackness. American Black Hebrews wanting to join their Ethiopian brethren feel that the Israeli Law of Return is unjust because it forces recognition of a racist text (the Talmud) in order to be considered eligible for citizenship It is truly ironic that the descendants of the original Hebrews are not considered to be Hebrews even in their own land because they happen to look like their distant forebears.Sawaad Amen Rahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16088798910340182517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11219995.post-29608065516079063432010-06-15T14:36:00.002-05:002010-08-22T15:03:51.966-05:00White privilege<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view¤t=BIGtasha_destiny-bm05_atlnightspots_atlanta111.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/BIGtasha_destiny-bm05_atlnightspots_atlanta111.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/?action=view¤t=31818_1256219376012_1545444231_3051.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/31818_1256219376012_1545444231_3051.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view¤t=unia2.gif" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/unia2.gif" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
Shem Hotep ("I go in peace").<br />
<br />
"Everything is based on mind, is led by mind, is fashioned by mind. If you speak and act with a polluted mind, suffering will follow you, as the wheels of the oxcart follow the footsteps of the ox. Everything is based on mind, is led by mind, is fashioned by mind. If you speak and act with a pure mind, happiness will follow you, as a shadow clings to a form." <br />
Buddha <br />
<br />
<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view¤t=64_cartoon_flag_pf1.gif" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/64_cartoon_flag_pf1.gif" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<b>White privilege <i></i></b><br />
<br />
White privilege is the subject where whites are given certain advantages simply because they are white. In a white-dominated society, privileges are not only plentiful, but are also normal. Of course, it's not surprising that many whites are either unaware of their privileges, or go so far as to deny that they even have privileges by playing the victim role. <br />
<br />
In critical race theory, white privilege is a way of conceptualizing racial inequalities that focuses as much on the advantages that white people accrue from society as on the disadvantages that people of color experience. Most such theories focus on American and European societal condition, since inequality between whites and non-whites is a long-standing feature of these academic areas. White privilege differs from conditions of overt racism or prejudice, in which a dominant group actively seeks to oppress or suppress other racial groups for its own advantage. Instead, theories of white privilege suggest that whites view their social, cultural, and economic experiences as a norm that everyone should experience, rather than as an advantaged position that must be maintained at the expense of others. This normative assumption implicitly constrains discussions of racial inequality within the dominant discourse: such explanations are limited to factors specific to disadvantaged racial groups - who are viewed as having failed to achieve the norm - and solutions focus on what can be done to help those groups achieve the 'normal' standards experienced by whites.<br />
<br />
In essence, theories of white privilege assert that discourses on racial inequality do not truly discuss differences between white and non-white social status, but only discuss the failure of non-white groups to achieve normal social status, effectively turning race into an issue that does not involve whites. In this sense it is similar to confirmation biases and the fundamental attribution error in social psychology.<br />
<br />
The general claim of theories of white privilege is that racial inequity cannot be resolved solely by looking at the life conditions of disadvantaged groups. They suggest that solutions to problems of racial inequality can only be achieved by explicitly discussing the implicit advantages that whites as a group hold in society.<br />
<br />
However, the list shows the harsh realities that blacks face no matter the socioeconomic, political, or religious/spiritual sense or status. Some of these vary depending on the individual, but overall, here's a list of adversities blacks have to struggle with and overcome. Also within the list are things whites must be aware of and overcome which is associated with fear. <br />
<br />
1. If I'm in a group of others who look like me, that is a cause for some kind of suspicion.<br />
<br />
2. In order to not cause suspicion, I must be in the company of (mostly) whites.<br />
<br />
3. If I move, I can be sure I will likely end up in poor neighborhood whether I want to or not.<br />
<br />
4. If I move into a white neighborhood, it will be enough to arouse suspicion with my neighbors.<br />
<br />
5. When I go shopping, I can be sure I will arouse suspicion and be followed around.<br />
<br />
6. I will be sure that when I turn on the TV, I will most likely see others who look like me as ball players, criminals, clowns or overall failures of society.<br />
<br />
7. When I turn to the local news on tv or in a newspaper, I can be sure most of the crime reported will have faces of suspects who look like me.<br />
<br />
8. I know that my history is celebrated during the shortest month of the year and will likely not be celebrated any other time.<br />
<br />
9. I know that most of the history taught is of history of mainly white people.<br />
<br />
10. I can be sure that most of the stories I have to read for class are stories written by whites featuring white characters.<br />
<br />
11. I can be sure that in order to pass in school I have to learn history and literature of whites by whites.<br />
<br />
12. In order for whites to listen to me, I must agree with what they think about me and my people.<br />
<br />
13. I can be sure that whites will not listen to me when it comes to race and racism.<br />
<br />
14. I can be sure that in order to "make it" in the music industry I must sing or rap about sex, drugs, violence and killing my own people.<br />
<br />
15. I can be sure that in order to "make it" in the music industry I must be an R&B, Jazz, rap or hip-hop artist.<br />
<br />
16. When I use cash, checks, or credit cards, my skin is enough for suspicion.<br />
<br />
17. When children of my race are missing, I know the media will likely not pay too much, if any, attention to them.<br />
<br />
18. I know during my lifetime, I will be taught that my race is inferior in some way, shape or form.<br />
<br />
19. I can be pretty sure that teachers will likely and severely punish children of my race for small infractions.<br />
<br />
20. I can be pretty sure that children of my race will be put down or judged because of their race.<br />
<br />
21. I know that the dropout rate for male children of my race is the highest among other races.<br />
<br />
22. The way I look contributes to the way I should talk in order to be considered black.<br />
<br />
23. I know that making good grades and good manners are signs that I'm "acting white."<br />
<br />
24. I can be pretty sure that I'm automatically a representative for my group in the entertainment, political, religious or social area.<br />
<br />
25. I know that any bad manners I have is associated with my color. <br />
<br />
26. As a male I can be sure that living beyond 30 is a blessing.<br />
<br />
27. I know that growing up, I will see poverty, drugs, violence and/or murder at least once.<br />
<br />
28. If I grew up middle-class or upper-class, I may be looked upon with negativity by some of my own peers. If I grew up lower-class, I may still be looked upon with negativity by some of my own peers.<br />
<br />
29. As a female I can be sure that the standard for beauty in this society is white or light skin.<br />
<br />
30. I have a good chance of growing up in a single parent home.<br />
<br />
31. I have at least one family member or relative who is either in prison or has been in prison.<br />
<br />
32. As a child there's a chance that I will likely be considered "bad" by adults who know me faster than being acknowledged of any positives.<br />
<br />
33. If I murder a white person, I can be pretty sure that I will get the death penalty.<br />
<br />
34. If I murder a black person, I can be pretty sure that my sentence will be lighter compared to white victims.<br />
<br />
35. I can be sure that I will be pulled over by police because of my race.<br />
<br />
36. I can be sure that I will either be harassed, abused or even killed by police because of my race.<br />
<br />
37. In court, I will likely not get a fair trial.<br />
<br />
38. I know that as a male, there's a 1 in 3 chance that I will end up in prison, and losing my right to vote.<br />
<br />
39. As a male I must marry within my race or be considered a sellout.<br />
<br />
40. As a male I know my number one cause of death is homicide most likely by another male who looks like me.<br />
<br />
41. I know a new television series will have main characters that will not look like me.<br />
<br />
42. I know that negative stereotypes about my people will continue despite a high number of those who do not fit those stereotypes. In other words I will be judged by the actions of a few.<br />
<br />
43. I know that my experiences with racism mean little or nothing. <br />
<br />
44. I know that I will be a scapegoat for almost anything and everything wrong with this society.<br />
<br />
45. I know that there will be movies featuring white people saving my people.<br />
<br />
46. I know that my history prior to slavery is hardly discussed or brought up in classrooms. We were taught that we came from slaves and nothing else.<br />
<br />
47. I can be sure I will likely not get the job or career I want based upon my race.<br />
<br />
48. I know that all of my people are judged for the actions of one or a few of my people.<br />
<br />
49. I have to live with the fact that my true culture, language, history are stripped away, and the proof I have to live with is in my name.<br />
<br />
50. I am often told that something is wrong with me and not with the society I live in. <br />
<br />
51. As a female the shade of my skin defines beauty. If my skin is dark or hair is nappy, then there's a chance that I will be considered ugly by my peers.<br />
<br />
52. As a female and mother I will be judged negatively by the number of children I have. If I do have children, I will be assumed that I am unmarried, that I'm on welfare, or that I'm simply an unfit mother.<br />
<br />
53. As a child I can be sure that the newest cartoon series will not feature characters that look like me. If they do, they will likely be some form of negative stereotype.<br />
<br />
54. As a male I will be judged by my male peers on how bad, tough or "street" I am. At school, I will likely be judged for my bad behavior and athletic abilities.<br />
<br />
55. In religion I am taught that God is white and that whiteness is purity and cleanliness and that my skin color is the exact opposite.<br />
<br />
56. As a female I am assumed to have a bad attitude, that I'm a golddigger or that I like to show off my body.<br />
<br />
57. I have to live with the notion that any organiazation for blacks are considered inferior or racist by whites.<br />
<br />
58. I am encouraged to be the best black anything in society and not simply the best.<br />
<br />
59. I am assumed that any position I'm in is because of affirmative action and not on my own merits.<br />
<br />
60. I have to live with the fact that I am not considered a "regular" person, that I am considered a black personSawaad Amen Rahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16088798910340182517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11219995.post-15413524875905141262010-06-06T09:19:00.000-05:002010-06-06T09:19:55.344-05:00Puerto Rican People.<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view¤t=4554391960_564ac08894.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/4554391960_564ac08894.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/?action=view¤t=31818_1256219376012_1545444231_3051.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/31818_1256219376012_1545444231_3051.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view¤t=25575_108748762474367_1000001773233.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/25575_108748762474367_1000001773233.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
Shem Hotep ("I go in peace").<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view¤t=28720_113140238727188_1000009363649.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/28720_113140238727188_1000009363649.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
"We cannot be equal with the master until we own what the master owns. We cannot be equal with the master until we have the education the master has. Then, we can say, "Master, recognize us as your equal."<br />
Elijah Muhammad (1897-1975)<br />
<br />
<b>Puerto Rican people.<i><strike></strike></i></b><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view¤t=2691716596_8b561644e7.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/2691716596_8b561644e7.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
A Puerto Rican (Spanish: puertorriqueño) (Taíno term: boricua) is a person who was born or raised in Puerto Rico.<br />
Puerto Ricans born and raised in the United States are also referred to as Puerto Ricans, although they are not native Puerto Ricans, but descendants of Puerto Ricans. Rarely are Puerto Ricans born in the diaspora called Puerto Rican Americans, or simply Americans.<br />
Puerto Ricans, who also commonly refer to themselves as "boricuas", are largely the descendants of Europeans, Taíno, Africans or a blend of these groups which has produced a very diversified population. The population of Puerto Ricans and descendants is estimated to be between 8 to 10 million worldwide, with most living within the islands of Puerto Rico, Central Florida, Chicago Metropolitan Area and in New York City, where there is a large Nuyorican community.<br />
For 2008, the American Community Survey estimates give a total of 3,846,054 Puerto Ricans classified as "Native" Puerto Ricans. It also gives a total of 3,638,484 (92%) of the population being born in Puerto Rico and 195,506 (4.9%) born in the United States. The total population born outside Puerto Rico is 315,553 (8%).<br />
Of the 107,983 who were foreign born outside the United States (2.7% of Puerto Rico), 5.2% were born in Europe, 92.7% in Latin America, 2.0% in Asia, 0.2% in Northern America, and 0.0% in Africa and Oceania each. <br />
<b><br />
Race and ethnicity.<i><strike></strike></i></b><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view¤t=Puerto_Rican_people.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/Puerto_Rican_people.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
<b>Whites.<i><strike></strike></i></b><br />
<br />
Spanish immigration to Puerto Rico:<br />
White Puerto Ricans of European, mostly Spanish descent, are said to comprise the majority with 80.5% reported in the 2000 United States Census. For the first time in fifty years the 2000 United States Census asked people to define their race. In 1899, one year after the U.S invaded and took control of the island, 61.8% of people identified as White. One hundred years later, the total was to 80.5% (3,064,862), less than one percent more than reported in 1950. The European heritage of Puerto Ricans comes primarily from one source: Spaniards (including Canarians, Catalans, Castilians, Galicians, Asturians, Andalusians, and Basques).<br />
The Canarian cultural influence in Puerto Rico is one of the most important components in which many villages were founded from these immigrants, which started from 1493 to 1890 and beyond. Many Spanish, especially Canarians, chose Puerto Rico because of its Hispanic ties and relative proximity in comparison with other former Spanish colonies. They searched for security and stability in an environment similar to that of the Canary Islands and Puerto Rico was the most suitable. This began as a temporary exile which became a permanent relocation and the last significant wave of Spanish or European migration to Puerto Rico. Other sources of European populations are Corsicans, French, Germans, Irish, Portuguese, Scots, Maltese, Italians and Jews, with many Arab Christians such as the Lebanese and Palestinians.<br />
<br />
<b>Sub-Saharan African/Black<i><strike></strike></i></b><br />
Black history in Puerto Rico:<br />
Today 8.0% of people self-identified as Black in the last 2000 United States Census. Immigration of African free men who arrived with the Spanish Conquistadors, the vast majority of the Africans who immigrated to Puerto Rico did so as a result of the slave trade from many different areas of the African continent. Such as West Africans, the Yoruba and the Igbo people.<br />
<b><br />
Amerindian Mestizos, Amerindian, and Taino.<i><strike></strike></i></b><br />
<br />
Amerindians and Mestizos are those who have a pure Amerindian descent or mixed ancestry between Europeans and Amerindians within the Puerto Rican context discarding the other definitions that this term may be used for under other settings. Amerindians make up the third largest racial identity among Puerto Ricans comprising 0.4% of the population.<br />
<br />
<b>Abolition of Slavery in Puerto Rico.<i><strike></strike></i></b><br />
<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view¤t=300px-Slavesin_Puerto_Rico.gif" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/300px-Slavesin_Puerto_Rico.gif" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<b>Former slaves in Puerto Rico, 1898 <i><strike></strike></i></b><br />
<br />
Indemnity bond paid as compensation to former owners of freed slaves<br />
On March 22, 1873, slavery was abolished in Puerto Rico. Slave owners were to free their slaves in exchange of a monetary compensation. The majority of the freed slaves continued to work for their former masters with the difference that they were now freeman and received what was considered a just pay for their labor. <br />
The freed slaves were able to fully integrate themselves into Puerto Rico's society. It cannot be denied that racism has existed in Puerto Rico since racism is something that may exist in anyone's heart; it is impossible to know. However, racism in Puerto Rico did not exist to the extent of other places in the New World, possibly because of the following factors:<br />
• In the 8th century, nearly all of Spain was conquered (711–718), by the Muslim Moors who had crossed over from North Africa. The first blacks were brought to Spain during Arab domination by North African merchants. By the middle of the 13th century all of the Iberian peninsula had been reconquered. A section of the city of Seville, which once was a Moorish stronghold, was inhabited by thousands of blacks. Blacks became freeman after converting to Christianity and lived fully integrated in Spanish society. Black women were highly sought after by Spanish males. Spain's exposure to people of color over the centuries accounted for the positive racial attitudes that were to prevail in the New World. Therefore, it was no surprise that the first conquistadors who arrived to the island, intermarried with the native Taínos and later with the African immigrants. <br />
• The Catholic Church played an instrumental role in the human dignity and social integration of the black man in Puerto Rico. The church insisted that every slave be baptized and converted to the Catholic faith. In accordance to the church's doctrine, master and slave were equal before the eyes of God and therefore brothers in Christ with a common moral and religious character. Cruel and unusual punishment of slaves was considered a violation of the fifth commandment. <br />
• When the gold mines were declared depleted in 1570 and mining came to an end in Puerto Rico, the vast majority of the white Spanish settlers left the island to seek their fortunes in the richer colonies such as Mexico and the island became a Spanish garrison. The majority of those who stayed behind were either black or mulattos (of mixed race). By the time Spain reestablished her commercial ties with Puerto Rico, the island had a large multiracial population, that is up until the 1850s, when the Spanish Crown put the Royal Decree of Graces of 1815 into effect which "whitened" the island's population by offering attractive incentives to non-Hispanic Europeans. The new arrivals continued to intermarry with the native islanders. <br />
The racism that did exist and which Black Puerto Ricans were subject to was exposed by two Puerto Rican writers; Abelardo Diaz Alfaro (1916–1999) and Luis Palés Matos (1898–1959) who was credited with creating the poetry genre known as Afro-Antillano<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view¤t=aa9f7dad7d04ddb2.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/aa9f7dad7d04ddb2.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<b>Abelardo Diaz Alfaro<i><strike></strike></i></b><br />
<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view¤t=rdpales.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/rdpales.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<b>Luis Palés Matos<i><strike></strike></i></b><br />
<br />
<b>Notable Puerto Ricans of African Ancestry.<i><strike></strike></i></b><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view¤t=200px-Schomburg.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/200px-Schomburg.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
Arturo Alfonso Schomburg, also known as Arthur Schomburg, (January 24, 1874 –June 8, 1938), was a Puerto Rican historian, writer, and activist in the United States who researched and raised awareness of the great contributions that Afro-Latin Americans and Afro-Americans have made to society. He was an important intellectual figure in the Harlem Renaissance.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view¤t=Lt_Pedro_Albizu_Campos.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/Lt_Pedro_Albizu_Campos.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
Pedro Albizu Campos (June 29, 1893 or September 12, 1891 – April 21, 1965) was a Puerto Rican politician and one of the leading figures in the Puerto Rican independence movement. He was the leader and president of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party from 1930 until his death. He was imprisoned for many years, on several occasions, in both United States and Puerto Rico, dying shortly after his release from federal prison. Because of his oratorical skills he was known as El Maestro ("The Teacher").<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view¤t=Roberto20Clemente203.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/Roberto20Clemente203.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
Roberto Clemente Walker (August 18, 1934 – December 31, 1972) was a Puerto Rican professional baseball player and a Major League Baseball right fielder.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view¤t=Akhenaton1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/Akhenaton1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<b>Akhenaton (1375-1358 B.C.)<i><strike></strike></i></b><br />
<br />
Amenhotep IV, better known as "Akhenaton, the Heretic King," is in some respects, the most remarkable of the Pharaohs. After the death of his father, he came into full power in Egypt and took the name Akhenaton. He produced a profound effect on Egypt and the entire world of his day. <br />
Thirteen hundred years before Christ, he preached and lived a gospel of perfect love, brotherhood, and truth. Two thousand years before Mohammed, he taught the doctrine of the "One God." Three thousand years before Darwin, he sensed the unity that runs through all living things. <br />
The account of Akhenaton is not complete without the story of his beautiful wife, Nefertiti. Some archaeologist have referred to Nefertiti as Akhenaton's sister, some have said they were cousins. What is known is that the relationship between Akhenaton and Nefertiti was one of history's first well-known love stories. <br />
<br />
At the prompting of Akhenaton and Nefertiti, the sculptors and the artists began to recreate life in its natural state, instead of the rigid and lifeless forms of early Egyptian art. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view¤t=althea-gibson-439.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/althea-gibson-439.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<b>Althea Gibson (August 25, 1927 – September 28, 2003)<i><strike></strike></i></b><br />
<br />
Althea Gibson, who moved with her family to Harlem at the age of three, was from an early age involved in many competitive sports. Gibson began to play tennis in Police Athletic League paddle tennis games. In 1945, she won the girls' singles championship of the all-black American Tennis Association (ATA), and from 1947 to 1956, she held the title for the ATA women's singles. In 1946, Gibson moved to North Carolina to live with Dr. Hubert Eaton, who, along with Dr. R. Walter Johnson, took an interest in her career. Under their tutelage, Gibson's game matured, and she developed her fast footwork and signature big serve.<br />
<br />
In 1953, Gibson graduated from Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University. During the 1950s, she began to challenge racial segregation in tennis by playing at tournaments sponsored by the United States Lawn Tennis Association (later renamed United States Tennis Association), which had previously been restricted to white players. In 1950, Gibson became the first black competitor at the National Championships (later renamed the U.S. Open) in Forest Hills, New York. She was invited to compete only after Alice Marble, a four-time singles winner at Forest Hills, expressed her disgust at the efforts to stop Gibson from playing because of her race. In 1951, Gibson was the first black person to play tennis at the Lawn Tennis Championships at the All-England Club in Wimbledon, England.<br />
<br />
Gibson's game slowed down in the early 1950s, at which point she worked as a physical education teacher in Missouri for two years. However, her game was revitalized by a tennis tour of Southeast Asia organized by the U.S. State Department in 1955. In 1956, Gibson won the women's singles championship at the French Open Tournament and then went on to win both the women's singles and doubles championships at Wimbledon and the U.S. National Championships at Forest Hills in 1957. In the same year, the Associated Press honored Gibson with the Female Athlete of the Year award. In 1958, she repeated her victories in the women's singles at both Wimbledon and Forest Hills.<br />
<br />
Gibson retired from competitive tennis in 1959, turning her attention to other interests. During the 1960s, Gibson played professional golf, joining the U.S. Ladies Professional Golf Association in 1963, although she did not have the same success with golf that she had had with tennis. Gibson worked for the New Jersey state sports commission during the 1980s, and lectured and taught clinics on tennis. In 1971, she was elected to the International Tennis Hall of Fame.<br />
During the 1990s, Gibson attempted a golf comeback and continued to speak about tennis and physical fitness in general. She authored two books: I Always Wanted to Be Somebody (1958) and So Much to Live For (1968).Sawaad Amen Rahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16088798910340182517noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11219995.post-14478906387812054532010-06-01T10:32:00.000-05:002010-06-01T10:32:18.379-05:00Black Ice: The Lost History of the Colored Hockey League of the Maritimes, 1895-1925<a href="http://s774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/?action=view¤t=3311358927_781679a382-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/3311358927_781679a382-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/?action=view¤t=31818_1256219376012_1545444231_3051.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/31818_1256219376012_1545444231_3051.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view¤t=25575_108748762474367_1000001773233.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/25575_108748762474367_1000001773233.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
Shem Hotep ("I go in peace").<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/?action=view¤t=untitleduii.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/untitleduii.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<b>Black Ice: The Lost History of the Colored Hockey League of the Maritimes, 1895-1925 <i><strike></strike></i></b><br />
<br />
The Colored Hockey League of the Maritimes was formed in 1895 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Comprised of the sons and grandsons of runaway American slaves, the league helped pioneer the sport of ice hockey, changing this winter game from the primitive "gentleman's past-time" of the nineteenth century to the modern fast moving game of today. In an era when many believed blacks could not endure cold, possessed ankles too weak to effectively skate, and lacked the intelligence for organized sport, these men defied the established myths. <br />
The Colored League was one of the most complex sports organizations ever created and was led by Baptist ministers and church laymen. Natural leaders and proponents of black pride, these men represented a concept in sports never before seen. Their rule book was The Bible. Their game book, the coded words and oral history derived from the experiences of American slavery and the Underground Railroad. Their strategy, the principles and teachings of American black leader Booker T. Washington (the founder of the Tuskegee Institute) and a believer in the concept of racial equality through racial separation. <br />
<a href="http://s774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/?action=view¤t=4-1.gif" target="_blank"><img src="http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/4-1.gif" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
Twenty-five years before the Negro Baseball Leagues in the United States, and twenty-two years before the birth of the National Hockey league, the Colored League would emerge as a premier force in Canadian hockey and supply the resilience necessary to preserve a unique culture which exists to this day. Unfortunately their contributions were conveniently ignored, or simply stolen, as white teams and hockey officials, influenced by the black league, copied elements of the black style or sought to take self-credit for black hockey innovations. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://s774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/?action=view¤t=1-2.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/1-2.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<b>Rewriting American History.<i><strike></strike></i></b><br />
American history has always promoted the myth of the original thirteen colonies. In truth, at the time of the American Revolution, there was no such thing as thirteen colonies. There were actually nineteen - six of those colonies did not agree with the Revolution. Those colonies became Canada. <br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Rewriting Canadian History.<i><strike></strike></i></b><br />
Patriotism is a strange creature. The Black man, since the earliest days of Canadian history has been one of the greatest defenders of Canada. And yet, his accomplishments have never been fully told nor recorded. It is as if the Black man had never existed. In fact, if it had not been for the Black man carrying a rifle, Canada herself would have never existed. From the earliest days of British North America and the landing of the Black Loyalist forces in Nova Scotia, through to the War of 1812, and beyond, Black regiments served with distinction along the borderlands separating the British and their Canadian counterparts from the Americans. During the American attack on Canada in 1775 and the subsequent siege of Quebec City, it was a Black Canadian regiment, who comprised part of the "undaunted fifty," who defeated the Americans beneath the Citadel of Quebec. The American General Richard Montgomery had invaded Quebec in an effort to make the territory the 14th State of the Union. He was defeated and killed along the slope rising up to the Citadel. The American failure to invade Canada would be repeated during the War of 1812 when, in the early days of the conflict Black Canadian regiments and soldiers led the charge against the American invaders from New Brunswick to the gates of Fort Detroit. In the 1830's, a Black regiment defeated the Mackenzie - Papineau forces ensuring that British North America remained as one. Additionally, Black soldiers were the first to be mobilized in the British Colony on Vancouver Island in 1856 in order to prevent an American annexation of the region following the discovery of gold in the Interior of British Columbia. Historically, when the Americans had moved north, either militarily or years later as simple gold rush prospectors, the first forces they often encountered were Black men dressed in British military scarlet-red uniforms. <br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Rewriting Black Canadian History.<i><strike></strike></i></b><br />
The history of Black Canadians has, for the most part, either been forgotten, deliberately destroyed, or conveniently ignored. Most historians have often dismissed it, or have viewed it as irrelevant. When it has been discussed, it has often been presented in relation to the cause and effects of American and New World Slavery. If the truth were known, Canadian Black history is as complex and intriguing as that of any European race or nation that has shaped the modern world. It is a history rich in its telling, one that evokes heroism, determination and dignity. It is realism, hidden by popular ignorance and modern theory. It is a legendary story supplanted by modern bias and myths. <br />
<br />
<br />
Setting the Ice Hockey Historical Record Straight<br />
Our knowledge of the roots of Canadian hockey has been based almost solely on the historical records maintained by early White historians. Because of this, the misconception that hockey is a White man's invention has persisted. We know today, such an assumption could not be further from historical fact. The roots of early Canadian hockey originate with the North American Indians. The roots of modern Canadian hockey originate, in large part, from the influence of an even more surprising source, that of early African-Canadian hockey. For it was Black hockey players in the later half of the nineteenth century whose style of play and innovations helped shape the sport, effectively changing the game of hockey forever. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://s774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/?action=view¤t=2-1.gif" target="_blank"><img src="http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/2-1.gif" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<b>The First Black Ice Hockey Players - 1820 to 1870<i><strike></strike></i></b><br />
With certainty, we can only date Black hockey to the early 1870's, yet we know that hockey and Black history in Nova Scotia have parallel roots, going back almost 100 years. Among the first reports of hockey being played occur in 1815 along the isolated Northwest Arm, south of Halifax. The date is important for the simple fact that as late as October 1815 the region was not home to a large White settlement but was instead the site of a small Black enclave. Four Black families originally from the Chesapeake Bay area, with a total of fifteen children, had relocated and settled on the Arm. It is reported that these families, Couney, Williams, Munro and Leale, received adequate food, lodging and employment implying that their children were healthy and would have been able to play hockey during the winter months when the Arm was frozen and suitable for skating. Were these children among the first Canadians to play the game of hockey? We do not know. All we can say is that the coincidence between the date of the Northwest Arm's Black settlement and the first records of hockey being played in the area are worthy of reflection. <br />
<br />
<b><br />
The Stanley Cup -1893<i><strike></strike></i></b><br />
During the nineteenth century, it had been the English who had introduced the concept of competitive sports to much of the world. In an age of the Victorians and Victorian ideals, sports were regarded as models of teamwork and fair play. Many believed that sports could raise the lower classes and non-White races to a higher level of civilization and social development. All was well, the theory held as long as White men continued to win at whatever sport they played. Hockey was no different. By recognizing Canadian hockey Stanley had accomplished something more. He has given the game "royal acceptance" removing its status as a game of the lowly masses and creating a tiered sport based on club elitism and commercialism. It is no secret that the Stanley Cup was only to be competed for by select teams within Canada. At the time of its presentation, it was a symbol for self-promotion all the while serving a "supposed need". In time, those who controlled the Challenge Cup controlled hockey, effectively creating a "bourgeoisie" sport. A sport that now, by its very nature, would exclude and fail to recognize Black contributions. <br />
<br />
<br />
<b>The Birth Of All-Black Hockey Teams -1895<i><strike></strike></i></b><br />
The first recorded mention of all-Black hockey teams appears in 1895. Games between Black club teams were arranged by formal invitation. By 1900, The Colored Hockey League of the Maritimes had been created, headquartered in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Despite hardships and prejudice, the league would exist until the mid-1920s. Historically speaking, The Colored Hockey League was like no other hockey or sports league before or since. Primarily located in a province, reputed to be the birthplace of Canadian hockey, the league would in time produce a quality of player and athlete that would rival the best of White Canada. Such was the skill of the teams that they would be seen by as worthy candidates for local representation in the annual national quest for Canadian hockey's ultimate prize - the Stanley Cup. <br />
<br />
<b><br />
Black Hockey Leadership -1895<i><strike></strike></i></b><br />
They were more than educated Blacks, in fact they were the first generation of Black men who refused to answer the ageless question: "Whose Negro Are You?" The first of their race to demand what was rightfully theirs; the first generation to refuse to stand at the back of a line. <br />
<br />
<b><br />
On The Destruction Of The Colored Hockey League -- 1912<i><strike></strike></i></b><br />
Were the Blacks sending a message to area Whites? Was this "an eye for an eye," a payback for Williams' death and other past events? In order for four White-owned buildings to go up in flames almost simultaneously, it would require an orchestrated group effort. It would require a group of people working in tandem with one goal. If it were the work of Blacks it would have been an effort organized either on Gottingen Street or out in Africville. If indeed this was payback, then who better to accomplish this task than members of the Colored League -- men who had had their league destroyed, lands stolen, and business enterprises crushed at the hands of Whites. On January 12, 1912 someone had sent the White Elite of Halifax a message. The message was simple: "Burn Us -- We Burn You!" <br />
<br />
<br />
<b>When They Destroyed Africville, They Destroyed The Birthplace of Modern Canadian Hockey -- 1960s<i><strike></strike></i></b><br />
The outright theft and destruction of Africville in the mid to late 1960s remains one of the most shameful chapters in modern Canadian history. To date, though numerous Federal government officials in Ottawa, and scores of Provincial and community politicians in Nova Scotia, have given verbal support to the Black fight for retribution, their words are only designed for political benefit and often carry little if any substance. The politicians say what they feel their audience wants to hear and few are ever called to task for their statements. It is a game that is played well by those who are only interested in securing their own social status and economic being. Africville is more than a Black Canadian tragedy. It speaks volumes about the social character of Canada and all Canadians. For by allowing the weak to be crushed by the strong we set the precedent where men's actions and not the rule of law determine the status quo and the definition of democracy and justice. By allowing the powerful to deny justice and dignity to those within our society who cannot fight back we set a standard for which future disputes are resolved. Laws and democracy can only be protected if people are willing to fight for them. <br />
<br />
<b><br />
The Truth Shall Set Us Free.<i><strike></strike></i></b><br />
Today there are no monuments to the Colored Hockey League of the Maritimes. There is no reference to the league in any but a few books on hockey. There is no reference to Henry Sylvester Williams, James Johnston, James Kinney or the scores of players who wore the Colored League uniforms. There is no reference in the Hockey Hall of Fame of the impact that Blacks had in the development of the modern game of hockey. No reference to the Black origin of the slap shot. There is no reference to the Black origin of the offensive style of goal play exhibited by Franklyn. There is no reference to the Black origin of goalies going down on ice in order to stop the puck. There is no reference to the Black practice of entertaining the crowds with a half-time show. It is as if the league had never existed. For hockey is today a sport Whiter in history than a Canadian winter. <br />
<br />
Go to the following link for more information.<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2QZm8llvig">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2QZm8llvig</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/?action=view¤t=image.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/image.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<b>Wille O Ree was the first in the NHL.<i><strike></strike></i></b><br />
In 1958 a young man named Willie O'Ree made his debut in the National Hockey League. He was with the Boston Bruins for two games. In 1961, after two more years in the minors, O'Ree had a longer stay with the Bruins--41 games. O'Ree never played another game in the NHL.<br />
<br />
This may not seem particularly significant, but O'Ree was different from every other NHL player who had come before him during the league's first 50 years. He was black, and there wouldn't be another black in the NHL for 25 years. Hockey was about 10 years late when it came to integration. All the other professional sports, including tennis, bowling, golf, baseball, football, and boxing were racially integrated by 1950. Hockey was the holdout. It was the whitest sport. There were no black players, coaches, team owners, or sportswriters.<br />
<br />
Boxing was the first to integrate with black champs Jack Johnson and Joe Louis dropping one Caucasian after another during the first half of the century. Jackie Robinson integrated baseball to great fanfare in 1947, but O'Ree's breakthrough hardly merited a mention. O'Ree did not appear on the nightly news. The New York Times, for example, did not find it newsworthy. Since Canada didn't have the racial strife that plagued the U.S., no one called much attention to O'Ree.<br />
<br />
O'Ree played successfully in the minors until the mid-1970s, and he won numerous scoring titles. To this day, he is regarded as a footnote in the world of sport. The hockey encyclopedias give him only passing reference, if any at all. O'Ree was born in 1935 and grew up in Fredericton, New Brunswick, a small city in coal mining region just north and east of Maine.<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/?action=view¤t=altonwhite.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/altonwhite.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<b>Alton White was another Black Player with the WHA.<i><strike></strike></i></b><br />
<br />
As in all things hockey history related in North America, the NHL dominates and the WHA is often dismissed. But the WHA was considered to be big league hockey, and they did sign a black athlete two years before Marson joined the Washington Capitals.<br />
<br />
Alton White was born May 31st, 1945 in Amherst, Nova Scotia. That is the same Amherst that has quite the black hockey history and brought Bill Riley to the NHL by 1976.<br />
<br />
But White did not learn his hockey until he moved to the cold confines of Winnipeg at the age of 8. His father was falling ill from working at the local foundry, and found work as a sleeping car porter for Canadian National Railroad.<br />
<br />
In Winnipeg White grew up playing with and against future NHL stars Pete Stemkowski and Ted Irvine. Under the careful guidance of MJHL Winnipeg Rangers coach Gordie Pennell, White soon too realized he had what it took to play big league hockey.<br />
<br />
Alton chased his hockey dreams, toiling in the old IHL with Fort Wayne and Columbus before proving his worth with Providence of the AHL.<br />
<br />
"Right now," said White in an interview in 1972, "I look at the NHL rosters and see names like Guy Lapointe, Marc Tardif, Rejean Houle, Don Marcotte, Reg Leach and Ken Dryden." These are people I've played against pretty well. I'm a hustler. A good skater. I'm not really that big so I have to rely mainly on skating and hustling. Compared with the past years, I'm a lot more capable hockey player. I feel I'm a lot better than some guys in the NHL today."<br />
<br />
And White had very few complaints about racism at that point in his career.<br />
<br />
"Once in a while I hear some wisecracks from people in the stands. But at least they know I'm out there working. I was very well accepted in Providence and haven't had any problems whatsoever. I get along with all the people. The fans treat me exceptionally well."<br />
<br />
White's problem in the AHL was he was never affiliated with a NHL team. As a result he never got the big league call up that so many of his teammates did.<br />
<br />
"It was tough for me to go up because I was owned by Providence. So, in order for me to go up I'd have had to be sold. I got a little bit down when I saw guys go up when I knew I was a better hockey player."<br />
<br />
"But then came the WHA and my big chance."<br />
<br />
White played four seasons in the WHA with the New York Raiders, Los Angeles Sharks, and the Michigan Stags/Baltimore Blades. He spent the majority of his final season in the lowly NAHL minor leagues, however.<br />
<br />
Now what happened to Alton White following the 1974-75 season is a mystery to me. He definitely quit professional hockey, and may have headed off to Vancouver where he summered and worked for his brother Ken's construction business.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/?action=view¤t=Chicago20Blackhawks.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/Chicago20Blackhawks.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
Chicago Blackhawks My Favorite Hockey Team.<i><strike></strike></i></b><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/?action=view¤t=3011418371_7726a5fe3f.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/3011418371_7726a5fe3f.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<a href="http://s774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/?action=view¤t=3122205803_b569f4e454.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/3122205803_b569f4e454.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
Chicago Blackhawk's Dustine Byfuglien my favorite Hockey player.<i><strike></strike></i></b><br />
<b><br />
There are a few Black Hockey Players in the NHL today. <i><strike></strike></i></b><br />
<br />
Sawaad Amen Rahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16088798910340182517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11219995.post-32520202111445849382010-05-31T17:38:00.001-05:002010-05-31T17:56:05.421-05:00THE AFRICAN PRESENCE IN CLASSICAL ASIAN CIVILIZATIONS<a href="http://s774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/?action=view¤t=6.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/6.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/?action=view¤t=31818_1256219376012_1545444231_3051.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/31818_1256219376012_1545444231_3051.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view¤t=25575_108748762474367_1000001773233.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/25575_108748762474367_1000001773233.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
Shem Hotep ("I go in peace").<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/?action=view¤t=buddha3.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/buddha3.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<b><br />
THE AFRICAN PRESENCE IN CLASSICAL ASIAN CIVILIZATIONS<i><strike></strike></i></b><br />
<br />
The story of the African presence in early Asia is as fascinating as it is obscure. We now know, based on recent scientific studies of DNA, that modern humanity originated in Africa, that African people are the world's original people, and that all modern humans can ultimately trace their ancestral roots back to Africa. Were it not for the primordial migrations of early African people, humanity would have remained physically Africoid, and the rest of the world outside of the African continent absent of human life. Since the first modern humans in Asia were of African birth, the African presence in ancient Asia can therefore be demonstrated through the history of the Black populations that have inhabited the Asian land mass within the span of modern humanity. But not only were African people the first inhabitants of Asia. There is abundant evidence to show that Black people within documented historical periods created, nurtured or influenced some of ancient Asia's most important and enduring classical civilizations. This includes the Sumerian civilization of early Iraq, the Indus Valley civilization and the civilizations of Angkor and Champa in Southeast Asia. <br />
<br />
For well over a century, Western historians, ethnologists, anthropologists, archaeologists and other such specialists have generally and often arbitrarily used such terms as Negroid, Proto-Negroid, Proto-Australoid, Negritic and Negrito in labeling populations in Asia with Africoid phenotypes and African cultural traits and historical traditions. The has especially been the case with Black populations in South Asia, Southeast Asia and Far East Asia. In Southwest Asia, on the other hand, terms like Hamites, Eurafricans, Mediterraneans and the Brown Race have commonly been employed in denoting clearly discernible Black populations. In this work, we have chosen to reject such deliberately confusing nomenclature as obsolete and invalid, unscientific and racially motivated, and it is our intention to comprehensively explore the full impact and extent of the African presence in the human cultures and classical civilizations of early Asia. <br />
<br />
In summation, in brief, we contend that the history of the African presence in Asia, including the African presence in classical Asian civilization, is one of the most significant, challenging and least written about aspects of the global African experience, and that even today, after an entire series of holocausts and calamities, the African presence in Asia may exceed three hundred million people. The works of historians and scholars like W.E.B. DuBois, Drusilla Dunjee Houston, Joel A. Rogers, John G. Jackson, Cheikh Anta Diop, Chancellor James Williams and others have stressed this for years. We intend to continue to energetically carry this work forward.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/?action=view¤t=DuBois.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/DuBois.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
William Edward Burghardt Du Bois (February 23, 1868 – August 27, 1963) was an American civil rights activist, Pan-Africanist, sociologist, historian, author, and editor.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/?action=view¤t=drusilla.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/drusilla.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
DRUSILLA DUNJEE HOUSTON (1876-1941)<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/?action=view¤t=joel_rogers.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/joel_rogers.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
Joel Augustus Rogers (September 6, 1880 — March 26, 1966)<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/?action=view¤t=buddha4.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/buddha4.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<b>Sakanouye Tamura Maro<i><strike></strike></i></b><br />
<br />
<b><br />
THE AFRICAN PRESENCE IN THE ANCIENT FAR EAST<i><strike></strike></i></b><br />
<br />
Although the island nation of Japan is assumed by many to have been historically composed of an essentially homogenous population, the accumulated evidence places the matter in a vastly different light. A Japanese proverb states that: "For a Samurai to be brave, he must have a bit of Black blood." Another recording of the proverb is: "Half the blood in one's veins must be Black to make a good Samurai." Sakanouye Tamura Maro, a Black man, became the first Shogun of Japan. <br />
<br />
In China, an Africoid presence is visible from remote antiquity. The Shang, for example, China's first dynasts, are described as having "black and oily skin." The famous Chinese sage Lao-Tze was "black in complexion."<br />
<br />
Funan is the name given by Chinese historians to the earliest kingdom of Southeast Asia. Their records expressly state that, "For the complexion of men, they consider black the most beautiful. In all the kingdoms of the southern region, it is the same."<br />
<br />
The first kingdom in Vietnam was the Kingdom of Lin-yi. Its inhabitants possessed "black skin, eyes deep in the orbit, nose turned up, hair frizzy at a period when they were not yet subject to foreign domination and preserved the purity of this type."<br />
<br />
The fate of the Black kingdoms and the Black people of Far East Asia must be tied to increased pressure from non-Africoid peoples pushing down from northern Asia. Indeed, the subject of what might be called "Black and Yellow racial and cultural relations in both ancient and modern times" is so critical that it must be developed as a special area of study. It is of particular importance to African and African-oriented scholars and historians.<br />
<br />
SOURCE:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/?action=view¤t=51OcEaPwjVL__SL500_AA300_.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/51OcEaPwjVL__SL500_AA300_.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a> <br />
African Presence In Early Asia, Edited by Runoko Rashidi & Ivan Van Sertima<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/?action=view¤t=Ati_woman.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/Ati_woman.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<b>Ati of the Philippines.<i><strike></strike></i></b><br />
<br />
The Ati is a Negrito ethnic group in Panay, which is located in the Visayas (Islands of Cebu, Bohol, Siquijor, Leyte, Samar, Panay, Masbate, Negros and Guimaras), the central portion of the Philippine archipelago. They are genetically-related to other Negrito ethnic groups in the Philippines such as the Aeta of Luzon, the Batak of Palawan, and the Mamanwa of Mindanao.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/?action=view¤t=1-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/1-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<a href="http://s774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/?action=view¤t=4.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/4.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<a href="http://s774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/?action=view¤t=3814576434_0984962a61.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/3814576434_0984962a61.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<b>The Malaysian Negrito<i><strike></strike></i></b><br />
<br />
Orang Asli (lit, "original peoples" or "aboriginal peoples" in Malay) is a general term used for any indigenous groups that are found in Peninsular Malaysia. They are divided into three main tribal groups – Semang (negrito), Senoi, and Proto-Malay (Aboriginal Malay). The Orang Asli are further divided into 18 sub-ethnic group according to their different languages and customs. The Negritos are usually found in the northern region of the peninsula, the Senois in the central region, and the Proto-Malay in the southern region.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/?action=view¤t=5.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/5.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<a href="http://s774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/?action=view¤t=2.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/2.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<a href="http://s774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/?action=view¤t=3.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/3.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<a href="http://s774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/?action=view¤t=3697194600_5532eed00b.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/3697194600_5532eed00b.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<a href="http://s774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/?action=view¤t=3697184236_8afdb91d59.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/3697184236_8afdb91d59.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<b><br />
The Ayome and The Papuans of NewGuinea.<i><strike></strike></i></b><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/?action=view¤t=Fig_29.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/Fig_29.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<a href="http://s774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/?action=view¤t=thumb_sidebar25.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/thumb_sidebar25.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<b>The Melanesians of the Pacific.<br />
<i><strike></strike></i></b>Sawaad Amen Rahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16088798910340182517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11219995.post-87370077062710220842010-05-31T16:07:00.001-05:002010-05-31T16:11:36.138-05:00The Color of Woman and Man.<a href="http://s774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/?action=view¤t=05ce857e5d2b624e.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/05ce857e5d2b624e.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/?action=view¤t=31818_1256219376012_1545444231_3051.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/31818_1256219376012_1545444231_3051.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/?action=view¤t=25575_108748762474367_1000001773233.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d131/sawaad/25575_108748762474367_1000001773233.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
Shem Hotep ("I go in peace").<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/?action=view¤t=coachman_alice.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/coachman_alice.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<b>Alice Marie Coachman.<i><strike></strike></i></b><br />
Alice Marie Coachman (born November 9, 1923 in Albany, Georgia) is an American former athlete. She specialized in high jump, and was the first black woman to win an Olympic gold medal.<br />
<br />
Coachman dominated the AAU outdoor high jump championship from 1939 through 1948, but was unable to compete in the Olympic Games as they were cancelled in 1940 and 1944 because of World War II.<br />
<br />
In the high jump finals of the 1948 Summer Olympics, Coachman leaped 1.68 m (5 ft 6⅛ in) on her first try. Her nearest rival, Great Britain's Dorothy Tyler, matched Coachman's jump, but only on her second try. Coachman was the only American woman to win an Olympic gold medal in 1948.<br />
<br />
Coachman also excelled in the indoor and outdoor 50 m dash and the outdoor 100 m dash. Representing Tuskegee Institute, Coachman also ran on the national champion 4 x 4 100-meter relay team in 1941 and 1942. Coachman is an honorary member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, inducted in 1998 during the sorority's international conference.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/?action=view¤t=Cheikh20Anta20Diop.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/Cheikh20Anta20Diop.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
Cheikh Anta Diop (29 December, 1923 in Thieytou, Diourbel Region - 7 February, 1986 in Dakar) was an Afrocentric historian, anthropologist, physicist and politician who studied the human race's origins and pre-colonial African culture.<br />
<b>The Color of Man.<i><strike></strike></i></b><br />
<br />
It is generally conceded in most scholarly circles, that mankind originated in Africa. This makes the African man the father, and the African woman the mother of mankind. <br />
By necessity, the earliest people were ethnically homogeneous and Negroid. Gloger's Law, which would also appear to be applicable to human beings, lays it down that warm-blooded animals evolving in a warm humid climate will secrete a black pigment (eumelanin). Hence, if mankind originated in the tropics around the latitude of the great lakes, he was bound to have brown pigmentation from the start and it was by differentiation in other climates that the original stock later split into different races. <br />
<br />
According to Cheikh Anta Diop, "the color black acts as a protection of the organism. If man was first born in Africa and had not been black, he would not have survived. We know scientifically, that ultra-violet rays would have destroyed the human organism in the equatorial regions, if the organism had not been protected by black pigmentation, that is Melanin. That is obviously why man, first born in Africa was black. It is not something we need to be proud of, it is simply a fact." <br />
<br />
The oldest known fossil remains, according to Dr. Louis Leakey, were found in the Olduvai Gorge region in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. These first "small" people were known as the "Twa", who worshipped the God Bes, a primitive human form of Horus I, being the earliest form of Ptah—the God of Gods. <br />
<br />
We also find this same black God, Ptah, symbolized in the mystery system in Egypt. The Twa are said to have migrated the four thousand one hundred miles of the Nile river, establishing what was later to become the Egyptian civilization. <br />
<br />
According to Manetho, the first dynasty was established by Menes (or Narmer), about 5500 B.C., when Menes conquered Lower Egypt, combining both Upper and Lower Egypt. This alliance of the red and white crowns of the two countries were joined, and Menes inherited the double diadem, becoming the first Pharaoh of the world. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://s774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/?action=view¤t=imhotep2.gif" target="_blank"><img src="http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/imhotep2.gif" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<b>Imhotep "Father of Medicine" (2980 B.C.)<i><strike></strike></i></b><br />
<br />
Imhotep, called "God of Medicine," "Prince of Peace," and a "Type of Christ." Imhotep was worshipped as a god and healer from approximately 2850 B.C. to 525 B.C., and as a full deity from 525 B.C. to 550 A.D. Even kings and queens bowed at his throne. Imhotep lived during the Third Dynasty at the court of King Zoser. Imhotep was a known scribe, chief lector, priest, architect, astronomer and magician (medicine and magic were used together.) For 3000 years he was worshipped as a god in Greece and Rome. Early Christians worshipped him as the "Prince of Peace." <br />
Imhotep was also a poet and philosopher. He urged contentment and preached cheerfulness. His proverbs contained a "philosophy of life." Imhotep coined the saying "Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we shall die." <br />
<br />
When the Egyptians crossed the Mediterranean, becoming the foundation of the Greek culture, Imhotep's teachings were absorbed there. Yet, as the Greeks were determined to assert that they were the originators of everything, Imhotep was forgotten for thousands of years and a legendary figure, Hippocrates, who came 2000 years after him became known as the Father of Medicine. <br />
<br />
It is Imhotep says Sir William Osler, who was the real Father of Medicine. "The first figure of a physician to stand out clearly from the mists of antiquity." Imhotep diagnosed and treated over 200 diseases, 15 diseases of the abdomen, 11 of the bladder, 10 of the rectum, 29 of the eyes, and 18 of the skin, hair, nails and tongue. Imhotep treated tuberculosis, gallstones, appendicitis, gout and arthritis. He also performed surgery and practiced some dentistry. Imhotep extracted medicine from plants. He also knew the position and function of the vital organs and circulation of the blood system. The Encyclopedia Britannica says, "The evidence afforded by Egyptian and Greek texts support the view that Imhotep's reputation was very respected in early times...His prestige increased with the lapse of centuries and his temples in Greek times were the centers of medical teachings." <br />
<br />
James Henry Breasted says of Imhotep:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/?action=view¤t=BreastedJ-Informal4scaled1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/BreastedJ-Informal4scaled1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
James Henry Breasted (August 27, 1865 – December 2, 1935) was an American archaeologist and historian.<br />
<br />
In priestly wisdom, in magic, in the formulation of wise proverbs; in medicine and architecture; this remarkable figure of Zoser's reign left so notable a reputation that his name was never forgotten. He was the patron spirit of the later scribes, to whom they regularly poured out a libation from the water-jug of their writing outfit before beginning their work. The people sang of his proverbs centuries later, and 2500 years after his death, he had become a god of medicine in whom Greeks, who call him Imouthes, recognized their own Asklepios. A temple was erected to him near the Serapeum at Memphis, and at the present day, every museum possesses a bronze statue or two of the apotheosized wise man, the proverb maker, physician, and architect of Zoser.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/?action=view¤t=Hatshepsut.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/Hatshepsut.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<a href="http://s774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/?action=view¤t=x93143846374983677_0.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/x93143846374983677_0.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a> <br />
<b><br />
Queen Hatshepsut (1500 B.C.)<i><strike></strike></i></b><br />
<br />
About 1500 years before the birth of Christ, one finds the beginning of Hatshepsut's reign as one of the brightest in Egyptian history, proving that a woman can be a strong and effective ruler. She was according to Egyptologist, James Henry Breasted, "The first great woman in history of whom we are informed." <br />
<br />
Her father, Thothmes I, was highly impressed with the efficiency of his daughter, and appointed her manager, and co-ruler of his kingdom. <br />
<br />
Before the King died, he married Hatshepsut to her half-brother, Thothmes II. His reign lasted only thirteen years. After his death, Hatshepsut was to rule only in the name of Thothmes III, until he was old enough to rule alone. <br />
<br />
Hatshepsut was not satisfied to rule in the name of Thothmes III. <br />
<br />
Hatshepsut dressed herself in the most sacred of the Pharaoh's clothing, mounted the throne, and proclaimed herself Pharaoh of Egypt. She ruled Egypt for twenty-one years. She also moved to strengthen the position of Egypt within Africa by making peace with the tribes of Kush (or Nubia) and sending missions to the nations along the East African coast, as far south as Punt (present day Somalia). One of Hatshepsut's crowning achievements was dispatching a mission to a kingdom in Asia (now India). <br />
<br />
Hatshepsut died suddenly and mysteriously. Some historians say that Thothmes III, had her murdered. <br />
<br />
After her death, Thothmes III, tried unsuccessfully to destroy all memory of Hatshepsut in Egypt. Her temple still remains in the Valley of the Kings, once the ancient city of Thebes, known today as Deir el Bahri, and Hatshepsut comes down to us as one of the most outstanding women of all time. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://s774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/?action=view¤t=tiy.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/tiy.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<a href="http://s774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/?action=view¤t=queentiy.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/Oaktown1960/queentiy.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<b>Queen Tiye (1415-1340 B.C.)<i><strike></strike></i></b><br />
<br />
This celebrated Nubian queen was the beloved and honored wife of Amen-Hetep III, who was one of the world's mightiest Pharaohs and conquerors. <br />
King Amen-Hetep III, had a very deep and unusual affection for Queen Tiye. In addition to the usual titles of a King's wife, Tiye is described as "Royal" daughter and "Royal" sister, when she was neither the daughter or the sister of a king, but of parents who were not of royal lineage. <br />
<br />
The full queenly titles which Tiye held in common with the great heiress princesses of Egypt, were bestowed on her by Amen-Hetep III, and were honorary. <br />
<br />
Although Tiye was a girl of common birth, she was a person of very strong character. Evident from records, she was a beautiful young Black queen. A woman of great intellect, ability, and a powerful influence. She shared the crown with her husband as though she had been its lineal heiress. Queen Tiye had such an important part in the affairs of Egypt, that foreign diplomats often appealed directly to her in matters affecting certain international relations. <br />
<br />
Queen Tiye was a full-blooded African. Her son, Akhenaton and his wife, Nefertiti are the parents of King Tutankhamen, who is also known as "King Tut." <br />
<br />
As a symbol of the love Amen-Hetep III, had for Queen Tiye, he declared that so she was treated in life as his equal, she would be depicted in death. At the time of her death, she was given a full "Royal" burial.Sawaad Amen Rahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16088798910340182517noreply@blogger.com0